Message - 7th IAL Symposium

The 7 th International Association for Lichenology Symposium 2012
(1I-P2) Submission ID: IAL0083-00001
TOWARDS A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF LICHENICOLOUS DACAMPIACEAE
(DOTHIDEOMYCETES, ASCOMYCOTA)
Döring H. 1 , Atienza V. 2
1 Mycology Section, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom
2 Departamento de Botanica, Universitat de Valencia, Burjasot, Valencia, Spain
The family Dacampiaceae comprises about 15 genera. Eight genera (Clypeococcum, Dacampia, Kalaalia,
Polycoccum, Pseudonitschkia, Pseudopyrenidium, Pyrenidium, Weddellomyces) include mainly or exclusively
lichenicolous species. The family is currently classified within Pleosporales in the Dothideomycetes.
However, no molecular data exist to test the phylogenetic placement of any of the lichenicolous taxa. We aim to
generate a hypothesis of the phylogenetic position of lichenicolous Dacampiaceae and to test the monophyly of
the group. Recent material of such inconspicuous fungi is usually not readily available for laboratory work, cultures
cannot easily be obtained from obligate parasites, and it is likely that any extraction from an infected lichen
specimen contains a mixture of DNAs of at least two ascomycetes. For DNA extractions we used minute portions
of the samples that have been carefully prepared and cleaned under a dissecting microscope to contain as much
material of the lichenicolous fungi as possible. Different PCR primer combinations for the nuclear ribosomal DNA
genes were tested, and where possible directly sequenced. In many cases, as expected, mixed PCR products
required sequencing via DNA cloning. It proved difficult to generate DNA sequence data of sufficient quality and
quantity. We are going to report on the diversity of fungal sequences obtained from samples of lichenicolous
Dacampiaceae. Our study highlights the elaborate process of obtaining reliable DNA sequence data for a larger
amount of such species. The routine inclusion of sequence data in the taxonomic description for new species, as
currently discussed, appears to be an extremely difficult task for these fungi. In some cases a single sequence
clustering within Dothideomycetes was obtained straight away. However, despite careful preparation from some
DNA extractions only sequences belonging to the host lichen could be retrieved, and in other cases cloning was
necessary to separate different fungal sequences. Some sequences originated from obviously unrelated fungi,
but from some extractions multiple sequences with affinity to Dothideomycetes were gathered. Therefore, multiple
samples are needed to confirm the identity of a specific DNA sequence as belonging to the Dacampiaceae
species in question. The phylogenetic position of some lichenicolous Dacampiaceae species will be shown.
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