Abstract
Most lichenized fungi produce abundant sexual structures, and in many species sexual spores seem to provide the only means of dispersal. For example, 90% of lichens found in Great Britain and Ireland2 produce ascomata (fruit bodies) containing sexually derived ascospores, whereas only 29% form symbiotic vegetative propagules. Sex in lichenized fungi has been assumed to equate with outcrossing3, but failure to induce sexuality in vitro has prevented experimental investigation of their breeding systems.
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Murtagh, G., Dyer, P. & Crittenden, P. Sex and the single lichen. Nature 404, 564 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35007142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35007142
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