I. EXPERIMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF LICHENS AND LICHEN FUNGI

II. CULTURE COLLECTION OF SELECTED MYCOBIONTS AND PHOTOBIONTS

III. EXPERIMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR STUDIES OF CULTURED LICHEN FUNGI

IV.  PHYLOGENY AND CHEMISTRY OF SOUTH AMERICAN LICHENS

Dactylina arctica (Richards) Nyl.

Chemical analysis of Dactylina arctica

• Experimental Microbiology, Chemistry and Ecophysiology of  Lichens and  Lichen Fungi

• Approaches to a Biotechnology of Lichen Mycobionts and Photobionts

• Differentiation processes in aposymbiotically grown Mycobionts (resynthesised lichens) and production of secondary metabolites

• Screening methods and strategies for growing substantial amounts of Mycobionts and Photobionts

• Identification of lichen substances in voucher specimens and cultures by HPLC analyses

• Identification of polysaccharides in cultured Mycobionts by mass spectrometry (in cooporation, Department of Biochemistry, Curitiba; Brazil)

• Participation in Euketides (EC-Project, "EUkaryotic polyKETIDEs in Surrogate hosts"), molecular studies of polyketides.

• Resynthesis of Photosymbiodemes

• DNA-analyses of cultured Mycobionts and Photobionts (in cooperation, Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Graz, Graz; Austria)

Mycobiont (C. retipora), grown on

MS +soil extract +1% sucrose medium;

3 months.

Trebouxia sp. (C. retipora), division stages, BB medium; 3 weeks.

Juvenile stages of Cladia retipora in-vitro grown in a greenhouse;

 2 years.