2001 Volume 90 Pages 307-314
Halophilic or salt tolerant lichen mycobionts were screened for 77 species on an NaCl enriched medium. Only the Niebla homalea mycobiont collected from the North American Pacific seashore showed evident halophilic growth: 145% growth on malt-yeast extract agar-medium supplemented with 0.9 M NaCl and 129% growth at 1.2 M NaCl in comparison with that of the zero NaCl medium. In addition, mycobionts of Arthonia cinnabarina, Chaenotheca brunneola, Caloplaca scopularis, Ramalina subbreviuscula and Vermilacinia combeoides harvested from seashore showed relatively better growth on NaCl enriched medium; however, some mycobionts are sensitive to salt. These selected mycobionts were also tolerant to KCl and glycerol added.
