Novel bacteria associated with Arctic seashore lichens have potential roles in nutrient scavenging

While generally described as a bipartite mutualistic association between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria, lichens also host diverse and heretofore little explored communities of nonphototrophic endolichenic bacteria. The composition and possible roles of these bacterial communities in the lichen symbiotic association constitute an emerging field of research. Saxicolous (rock-dwelling) seashore lichens present an unusual environment, characterized by rapid fluctuations in temperature, salinity, exposure to solar radiation, etc. The present study focuses on the bacterial biota associated with 4 species of crustose, halophilic, saxicolous seashore lichens found in northern Iceland. A denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis based characterization of the composition of the lichen-associated microbiotas indicated that they are markedly lichen-species-specific and clearly distinguishable from the environmental microbiota represented by control sampling. A collection of bacterial strains was investigated and partially identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The strains were found to belong to 7 classes: Alphaproteobacteria, Bacilli, Actinobacteria, Flavobacteria, Cytophagia, Sphingobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. Several isolates display only a modest level of similarity to their nearest relatives found in GenBank, suggesting that they comprise previously undescribed taxa. Selected strains were tested for inorganic phosphate solubilization and biodegradation of several biopolymers, such as barley β-glucan, xylan, chitosan, and lignin. The results support a nutrient-scavenging role of the associate microbiota in the seashore lichen symbiotic association.