Endolichenic fungal diversity associated with some lichens of the Western Ghats.

A total of 389 strains of fungi belonging to 38 species were isolated from 10 lichen species of the Western Ghats, southern India. All the lichens screened, irrespective of their growth forms or location, harboured endolichenic fungi. Most of the fungi belonged to the Ascomycotina. Chaetomium sp. 1, Hypoxylon investiens, Nemania bipapillata, Nodulisporium sp., Paecilomyces sp., and Sporormiella intermedia were the most common ones and were present in 5 or more lichen species. Of the 28 sporulating fungi, 7 belonged to Xylariales, and their total colonization frequency in all the lichens was also high. This observation further substantiates the high ecological amplitude of Xylariales, possibly due to overlapping ecological niches and their ability to inhibit co-occurring endolichenic fungi.

Endolichenic fungi: the lesser known fungal associates of lichens.

Lichens are the result of a stable mutualism between a fungal and a photosynthesising partner (alga or cyanobacterium). In addition to the fungal partner in this mutualism, lichens are associated with endolichenic fungi which reside inside their thalli. The endolichenic fungi appear to have evolved with the lichen and many of them are a source of novel metabolites vested with unique bioactivities. There is very little information on the biology of endolichenic fungi and their interactions with the other components of a lichen microbiome. There is an urgent need to understand these aspects of endolichenic fungi such that their ecology and economic potential are known more completely. The current knowledge on endolichenic fungi is reviewed here.