doi:10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.02.05 IMA FUNGUS · VOLUME 2 · No 2: 143–153 Ascospore discharge, germination and culture of fungal partners of tropical ARTICLE lichens, including the use of a novel culture technique Ek Sangvichien1, David L. Hawksworth2, and Anthony J.S. Whalley3 1Faculty of Science, Ramkhamhaeng University, Hua Mark, Bangkok 10240, Thailand; corresponding author e-mail:
[email protected] 2Departmento de Biología Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de Ramón y Cajal, Ciudad Universitaria, ES-28040 Madrid, Spain; and Department of Botany, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK 3School of Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK Abstract: A total of 292 lichen samples, representing over 200 species and at least 65 genera and 26 families, Key words: were collected, mainly in Thailand; 170 of the specimens discharged ascospores in the laboratory. Generally, Ascomycota crustose lichens exhibited the highest discharge rates and percentage germination. In contrast, foliose lichen colony development samples, although having a high discharge rate, had a lower percentage germination than crustose species mycobiont tested. A correlation with season was indicated for a number of species. Continued development of germinated seasonality ascospores into recognizable colonies in pure culture was followed for a selection of species. The most successful Thailand medium tried was 2 % Malt-Yeast extract agar (MYA), and under static conditions using a liquid culture medium, a sponge proved to be the best of several physical carriers tested; this novel method has considerable potential for experimental work with lichen mycobionts. Article info: Submitted 30 September 2011; Accepted 17 October 2011; Published 11 November 2011.