Analyzing sorbitol biosynthesis using a metabolic network flux model of a lichenized strain of the green microalga .

a unicellular terrestrial microalga found either free-living or in association with lichenized fungi, protects itself from desiccation by synthesizing and accumulating low-molecular-weight carbohydrates such as sorbitol. The metabolism of this algal species and the interplay of sorbitol biosynthesis with its growth, light absorption, and carbon dioxide fixation are poorly understood. Here, we used a recently available genome assembly for to develop a metabolic flux model and analyze the alga's metabolic capabilities, particularly, for sorbitol biosynthesis.

Beauveria australis finds a new host in French dung beetles introduced to Australia.

Exotic dung beetles have been introduced to Australia for over 50 years to mitigate issues caused by dung produced by livestock. This study aims at identifying fungi affecting a beetle colony and investigating their source. Fungal hyphae emerging from the cuticle of dead beetles were cultured and a multigene phylogeny showed that Beauveria bassiana and B.

A long-read amplicon approach to scaling up the metabarcoding of lichen herbarium specimens.

Reference sequence databases are critical to the accurate detection and identification of fungi in the environment. As repositories of large numbers of well-curated specimens, herbaria and fungal culture collections have the material resources to generate sequence data for large number of taxa, and could therefore allow filling taxonomic gaps often present in reference sequence databases. Financial resources to do that are however often lacking, so that recent efforts have focused on decreasing sequencing cost by increasing the number of multiplexed samples per sequencing run while maintaining high sequence quality.

Towards a Systems Biology Approach to Understanding the Lichen Symbiosis: Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing Network Modelling.

Lichen associations, a classic model for successful and sustainable interactions between micro-organisms, have been studied for many years. However, there are significant gaps in our understanding about how the lichen symbiosis operates at the molecular level. This review addresses opportunities for expanding current knowledge on signalling and metabolic interplays in the lichen symbiosis using the tools and approaches of systems biology, particularly network modelling.

Implications of the 2019-2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation.

Australia's 2019-2020 'Black Summer' bushfires burnt more than 8 million hectares of vegetation across the south-east of the continent, an event unprecedented in the last 200 years. Here we report the impacts of these fires on vascular plant species and communities. Using a map of the fires generated from remotely sensed hotspot data we show that, across 11 Australian bioregions, 17 major native vegetation groups were severely burnt, and up to 67-83% of globally significant rainforests and eucalypt forests and woodlands.