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Lichen secondary metabolites affect growth of Physcomitrella patens by allelopathy

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Abstract

Lichen secondary metabolites can function as allelochemicals and affect the development and growth of neighboring bryophytes, fungi, vascular plants, microorganisms, and even other lichens. Lichen overgrowth on bryophytes is frequently observed in nature even though mosses grow faster than lichens, but there is still little information on the interactions between lichens and bryophytes.

In the present study, we used extracts from six lichen thalli containing secondary metabolites like usnic acid, protocetraric acid, atranorin, lecanoric acid, nortistic acid, and thamnolic acid. To observe the influence of these metabolites on bryophytes, the moss Physcomitrella patens was cultivated for 5 weeks under laboratory conditions and treated with lichen extracts. Toxicity of natural mixtures of secondary metabolites was tested at three selected doses (0.001, 0.01, and 0.1 %). When the mixture contained substantial amounts of usnic acid, we observed growth inhibition of protonemata and reduced development of gametophores. Significant differences in cell lengths and widths were also noticed. Furthermore, usnic acid had a strong effect on cell division in protonemata suggesting a strong impact on the early stages of bryophyte development by allelochemicals contained in the lichen secondary metabolites.

Biological activities of lichen secondary metabolites were confirmed in several studies such as antiviral, antibacterial, antitumor, antiherbivore, antioxidant, antipyretic, and analgetic action or photoprotection. This work aimed to expand the knowledge on allelopathic effects on bryophyte growth.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Irene Lichtscheidl for providing the imaging equipment at Core Facility Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research and Stephan Manhalter for critical reading and reviewing this manuscript. This work was supported by OeAD-Ernst Mach grant (ICM/2015/02049) to MG and the Slovak Grant Agency (VVGS/PF/2016/72615) to MG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Michal Goga, Sebastian J. Antreich & Ingeborg Lang

  2. Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Mánesova 23, 041 67, Košice, Slovakia

    Michal Goga & Martin Bačkor

  3. Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfram Weckwerth

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  1. Michal Goga
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Correspondence to Michal Goga.

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Supplemental data respective table as supplemental data. Red colored numbers represent significant differences in effect size. (DOCX 19 kb)

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Goga, M., Antreich, S.J., Bačkor, M. et al. Lichen secondary metabolites affect growth of Physcomitrella patens by allelopathy. Protoplasma 254, 1307–1315 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-016-1022-7

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