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Lichenization: The Origins of a Fungal Life-Style

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Recent Advances in Lichenology

Abstract

Following a discussion on the naming of lichens and a definition of “lichen”, hypotheses on the origins of lichenization and lichen-forming fungi are reviewed. It is emphasized that lichen associations strictly have no scientific name, while the partners in the symbiosis do. As fungi have a wide range of associations with algae and cyanobacteria, the definition of “lichen” must include the fungal partner enclosing the photosynthetic, and the photosynthetic partner not being incorporated into fungal cells. Hypotheses put forward to explain lichenization are examined in the context of the evidence from the fossil record and molecular biology. There are uncertainties over the interpretation of many of the pre-Devonian fossils, but stratified undisputed lichen-like associations were present in the Lower Devonian, and material referable to modern genera is preserved in Eiocene and Miocene amber. Some early molecular studies suggested that the earliest ascomycetes may have been lichenized, but as more fungi have been sequenced, it has emerged as more likely that there have been repeated lichenization and de-lichenization events in different lineages over time. Some caution is necessary as the molecular trees do not included data from extinct lineages. The possibility that there were early lichen-like fungal associations as far back as the late Pre-Cambrian or early Cambrian cannot be discounted on the basis that they are not recognizable in the fossil record.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Often cited as published in 1877, but the article is indicated as written in “Marz 1876”, and the first two parts of volume 2 of the journal are listed as received in the 11 October 1876 issue of Flora (59: 530).

  2. 2.

    Arthonia radiata (as A. vulgaris), Arthopyrenia cerasi, Graphis scripta, Lecanora albella (as L. pallida), and Pertusaria pertusa (as Variolaria communis).

  3. 3.

    I regard the terms “mycobiont” and “photobiont” as unnecessary jargon as “fungal partner” and “photosynthetic partner” are more immediately understood by non-specialists.

  4. 4.

    Gyr = Giga years (i.e. billions of years).

  5. 5.

    Mya = Million years ago.

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Acknowledgment

This contribution was prepared while in receipt of funding from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación project CGL2011-25003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza Ramón y Cajal, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    David L. Hawksworth

  2. Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    David L. Hawksworth

  3. Mycology Section, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kew, Surrey, TW9 3DS, UK

    David L. Hawksworth

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  1. David L. Hawksworth
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Correspondence to David L. Hawksworth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Dalip Kumar Upreti

  2. Departmento de Biologia Vegetal II Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Pradeep K. Divakar

  3. Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Vertika Shukla

  4. Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Rajesh Bajpai

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Hawksworth, D.L. (2015). Lichenization: The Origins of a Fungal Life-Style. In: Upreti, D., Divakar, P., Shukla, V., Bajpai, R. (eds) Recent Advances in Lichenology. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2235-4_1

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