Genomic variation of ITS and 16S markers in Dictyonema basidiolichen mycobionts, their photobionts, and their internal fungal and cyanobacterial inhabitats

The project aims at elucidating the evolution of basidiolichens in the Dictyonema clade and the phylogenetic structure of their photobionts and internal fungal and cyanobacterial communities. These lichens are extraordinarily rich in species and their evolution and classification is virtually unknown. Pyrosequencing data in combination with Sanger sequencing provide the tools to characterize genomic variation in the targeted loci as well as obtain sequence data from samples with multiple fungal genomes present.