LICHEN PROTEINS, SECONDARY PRODUCTS AND MORPHOLOGY: A REVIEW OF PROTEIN STUDIES IN LICHENS WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON TAXONOMY

Abstract

  Almost 30 protein studies with different objectives for c. 50 lichens species are compared and the taxonomic relevance, in particular, and other aspects of the use of electrophoretic techniques discussed. The results indicate large enzymatic variation both in vegetatively and sexually propagating lichens, differences in enzyme patterns between lichenized and non-lichenized bionts but also, correlation between protein banding patterns and secondary product chemistry or spatial separation.