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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.03.17.435722

Lichen fungi do not depend on the alga for ATP production

Tagirdzhanova, G.·McCutcheon, J.·Spribille, T.
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Abstract

Lichen fungi live in a symbiotic association with unicellular phototrophs and have no known aposymbiotic stage. A recent study postulated that some of them have lost mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and rely on their algal partners for ATP. This claim originated from an apparent lack of ATP9, a gene encoding one subunit of ATP synthase, from a few mitochondrial genomes. Here we show that while these fungi indeed have lost the mitochondrial ATP9, each retain a nuclear copy of this gene. Our analysis reaffirms that lichen fungi produce their own ATP.

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Tagirdzhanova, G., McCutcheon, J., Spribille, T.. 2021-03-17. Lichen fungi do not depend on the alga for ATP production. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.17.435722

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