The Letharia Vulpina Full Movie In Italian Free Download
Rocki Stenger
Letharia vulpina, commonly known as the wolf lichen is a fruticose lichenized species of fungus in the family Parmeliaceae. It is bright yellow-green, shrubby and highly branched, and grows on the bark of living and dead conifers in parts of western and continental Europe, the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains of Western North America. This species is somewhat toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment vulpinic acid, and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. It has also been used traditionally by many native North American ethnic groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints.
The study of the reproductive biology of lichen fungal symbionts has been traditionally challenging due to their complex lifestyles. Against the common belief of haploidy, a recent genomic study found a triploid-like signal in Letharia. Here, we infer the genome organization and reproduction in Letharia by analyzing genomic data from a pure culture and from thalli, and performing a PCR survey of the MAT locus in natural populations. We found that the read count variation in the four Letharia specimens, including the pure culture derived from a single sexual spore of L. lupina, is consistent with haploidy. By contrast, the L. lupina read counts from a thallus' metagenome are triploid-like. Characterization of the mating-type locus revealed a conserved heterothallic configuration across the genus, along with auxiliary genes that we identified. We found that the mating-type distributions are balanced in North America for L. vulpina and L. lupina, suggesting widespread sexual reproduction, but highly skewed in Europe for L. vulpina, consistent with predominant asexuality. Taken together, we propose that Letharia fungi are heterothallic and typically haploid, and provide evidence that triploid-like individuals are hybrids between L. lupina and an unknown Letharia lineage, reconciling classic systematic and genetic studies with recent genomic observations.
Melanin is the main pigment of human skin, playing the primary role of protection from ultraviolet radiation. Alteration of the melanin production may lead to hyperpigmentation diseases, with both aesthetic and health consequences. Thus, suppressors of melanogenesis are considered useful tools for medical and cosmetic treatments. A great interest is focused on natural sources, aimed at finding safe and quantitatively available depigmenting substances. Lichens are thought to be possible sources of this kind of compounds, as the occurrence of many phenolic molecules suggests possible effects on phenolase enzymes involved in melanin synthesis, like tyrosinase. In this work, we used four lichen species, Cetraria islandica Ach., Flavoparmelia caperata Hale, Letharia vulpina (L.) Hue, and Parmotrema perlatum (Hudson) M. Choisy, to obtain extracts in solvents of increasing polarity, viz. chloroform, chloroform-methanol, methanol, and water. Cell-free, tyrosinase inhibition experiments showed highest inhibition for L. vulpina methanol extract, followed by C. islandica chloroform-methanol one. Comparable results for depigmenting activities were observed by means of in vitro and in vivo systems, such as MeWo melanoma cells and zebrafish larvae. Our study provides first evidence of depigmenting effects of lichen extracts, from tyrosinase inhibition to cell and in vivo models, suggesting that L. vulpina and C. islandica extracts deserve to be further studied for developing skin-whitening products.
With a species count that is likely in the thousands, fungi can be found growing in and on a multitude of substrates, including rock, soil, and live and dead trees. Some are involved in symbiotic relationships with other species. One example is mycorrhizae, an association between fungi and plant roots in which the fungus extends the plant root system, increasing water and nutrient absorption. In exchange, the plant provides the fungus with food synthesized in photosynthesis. Another example is lichen, an organism formed by the combination of fungi and either photosynthetic green algae or cyanobacteria. The photosynthetic alga or cyanobacterium lives inside the fungus and provides it with food. In return, the fungus encloses its partner, providing shade and protection from desiccation. Lichen commonly grow on trees and bare rock. One common species, wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina), is a bright yellow-green fruticose lichen that grows on conifers and resembles a scrubby carpet of moss. Wolf lichen received its name because it was once used to poison wolves and foxes. Today, lichens are studied as biological indicators of air quality. Lichen communities normally vary little from season to season, but community composition will change according to air pollution levels. This is because certain species are more sensitive to pollution than others.
A recent study on Letharia vulpina showed that samples from North America had a higher genetic variation at eight single-nucleotide polymorphism sites (SNPs) than did samples from Sweden or Italy. It was thus concluded that L. vulpina should be outcrossing in North America, but effectively clonal in Europe (Högberg et al, 2002). Similarly, our data suggested that populations of L. pulmonaria from British Columbia also harbored a significantly larger number of genotypes than did Swiss populations (Table 2). This lower genotypic diversity in the Swiss populations may be attributed to historical bottlenecks (Zoller et al, 1999). In addition, we also found that populations from Vancouver Island, with the exception of population CL, had a lower genotypic diversity than did populations from the mainland. This could be due to the spatial isolation of these populations (Walser et al, unpublished data). Interestingly, the number of different genotypes showed a negative association with the local population area, which might indicate that denser populations support a higher number of genotypes.
I was hiking up the Icicle and my eye kept being caught by the bright yellow-green Letharia vulpina, also known as the wolf lichen. I gathered some in my pockets because I thought the color and texture would be fabulous to add to a painting. The Red-Flanked Bluetail (Orange-Flanked Bush Robin) was the subject of my painting because of the bright flashes of color and the cute chubby body.
Dorothy Smullen, after reading a draft of this paper, found a reference to two Sticta species that contain polyporic acid (Murray 1952). Unfortunately, no abstract of the paper is available and purchase of the 6-page article costs over $100, so I have no other details. Dorothy also uncovered the fact that vulpinic acid (a yellow pigment found in Letharia vulpina (L.) Hue) is structurally very close to polyporic acid. In Europe and Western North America, Letharia vulpina was stuffed into carcasses of dead animals to kill wolves. It is highly toxic.
In Alectoria, haptera are formed at the tip of the thallus filament as anapical cone-like growth from which hyphae may branch out and penetrateany convenient object. A species of this genus was thus found clinging to[95]stems of Betula nana. Apical haptera are very frequent in Cladonia rangiferinaand Cl. sylvatica, induced here also by contact. These two plants, aswell as several species of Cetraria, tend, indeed, to become entirely epiphyticon the heaths of the Calluna formations. Haptera similar to those of Alectoriaoccur in Usnea, Evernia, Ramalina and Cornicularia (Cetraria). In Everniaprunastri var. stictoceros, a heath form, the fronds become attached to thestems and branches of Erica tetralix by hapteroid strands of slender glutinoushyphae which persist on the frond of the lichen after it is detached assmall very dark tubercles surmounted, as Parfitt[370] pointed out, by a dark-browngrumous mass of cells. Plug-like haptera may be formed at the baseof Cladoniae which attach them to each other and to the substratum. Thebrightly coloured fronds of Letharia vulpina are attached to each other insomewhat tangled fashion by lateral bridges or by fascicles of hyphae dark-brownat the base but colourless at the apices, exactly like aerial adventitiousrhizinae. They grow out from the fronds generally at or near the tips andlay hold of a neighbouring frond by means of mucilage. These haptera areevidently formed in response to friction. Haptera along with other lichenattachments have received considerable attention from Galløe[371]. He findsthem arising on various positions of the lichen fronds and has classifiedthem accordingly.
1. Derivatives of pulvinic acid which are usually of a bright-yellow colour.They are the colouring substance of Letharia vulpina, a northern species, notfound in our islands, of Cetraria pinastri and C. juniperina[886] which inhabitmountainous or hilly regions. The crustaceous species, Lecidea lucida andRhizocarpon geographicum, owe their colour to rhizocarpic acid.
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