TY  - JOUR
A1  - Alors, David
A1  - Dal Grande, Francesco
A1  - Cubas, Paloma
A1  - Crespo, Ana
A1  - Schmitt, Imke
A1  - Molina M., Carmen Marieta
A1  - Divakar, Pradeep K.
T1  - Panmixia and dispersal from the Mediterranean Basin to Macaronesian Islands of a macrolichen species
T2  - Scientific reports
N2  - The Mediterranean region, comprising the Mediterranean Basin and the Macaronesian Islands, represents a center of diversification for many organisms. The genetic structure and connectivity of mainland and island microbial populations has been poorly explored, in particular in the case of symbiotic fungi. Here we investigated genetic diversity and spatial structure of the obligate outcrossing lichen-forming fungus Parmelina carporrhizans in the Mediterranean region. Using eight microsatellite and mating-type markers we showed that fungal populations are highly diverse but lack spatial structure. This is likely due to high connectivity and long distance dispersal of fungal spores. Consistent with low levels of linkage disequilibrium and lack of clonality, we detected both mating-type idiomorphs in all populations. Furthermore we showed that the Macaronesian Islands are the result of colonization from the Mediterranean Basin. The unidirectional gene flow, though, seemed not to be sufficient to counterbalance the effects of drift, resulting in comparatively allelic poor peripheral populations. Our study is the first to shed light on the high connectivity and lack of population structure in natural populations of a strictly sexual lichen fungus. Our data further support the view of the Macaronesian Islands as the end of the colonization road for this symbiotic ascomycete.
KW  - Biogeography
KW  - Genetic variation
Y1  - 2017
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/47848
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-478486
SN  - 2045-2322
N1  - Rights and permissions: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
VL  - 7
IS  - Art. 40879
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
PB  - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
CY  - [London]
ER  -