Lichens are highly abundant with secondary metabolites that show a wide range of biological properties. Lichen thalli could potentially be a rich source of these chemical compounds for pharmaceutical purposes, however, further research on these substances is still needed. Difficulties in culturing of lichen thalli and the slow rate of their in vitro growth are the main obstacles to exploit lichen substances on an industrial scale. Finding the optimal conditions for lichen bionts in vitro culturing may solve this problem or, at least, improve experimental processes. Here we introduce our research on isolation and in vitro culturing of 13 mycobionts. These include the following species: Amandinea punctata, Caloplaca cerinelloides, Cladonia digitata, Lecanora albescens, L argentata, L. dispersa, L. pulicaris, L. semipallida, Lecidella elaeochroma, Physcia adscendens, Ph. stellaris, Physconia distorta and Ph. grisea. The identity of isolated mycobionts was confirmed using ITS rDNA sequencing (Macrogen, The Netherlands). The growth of isolated and in vitro cultured mycelia was subsequently compared, depending on the type of medium applied, in order to find the optimal medium for culturing of each mycobiont. The composition of secondary metabolites in in vitro cultured mycobionts and their parent thalli was investigated using TLC to evaluate the impact of nutrient media on biosynthesis of their secondary compounds. The potential replacement of fresh thalli with their isolated mycobionts as an efficient source of lichen substances, both in biological research and in pharmacy, is discussed.
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