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AOBPreview originally published online on December 12, 2007
Annals of Botany 2008 101(4):531-539; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm306
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Surface Hydrophobicity Causes SO2 Tolerance in Lichens

Markus Hauck1,*, Sascha-René Jürgens1, Martin Brinkmann2 and Stephan Herminghaus2

1 Albrecht von Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, Dept. Plant Ecology, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany
2 Max Planck Institute of Dynamics and Self-Organization, Dept. Dynamics of Complex Fluids, Bunsenstraße 10, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany

* For correspondence. E-mail mhauck{at}gwdg.de

Received: 12 July 2007    Returned for revision: 9 October 2007    Accepted: 13 November 2007    Published electronically: 12 December 2007

Background and Aims: The superhydrophobicity of the thallus surface in one of the most SO2-tolerant lichen species, Lecanora conizaeoides, suggests that surface hydrophobicity could be a general feature of lichen symbioses controlling their tolerance to SO2. The study described here tests this hypothesis.

Methods: Water droplets of the size of a raindrop were placed on the surface of air-dry thalli in 50 lichen species of known SO2 tolerance and contact angles were measured to quantify hydrophobicity.

Key Results: The wettability of lichen thalli ranges from strongly hydrophobic to strongly hydrophilic. SO2 tolerance of the studied lichen species increased with increasing hydrophobicity of the thallus surface. Extraction of extracellular lichen secondary metabolites with acetone reduced, but did not abolish the hydrophobicity of lichen thalli.

Conclusions: Surface hydrophobicity is the main factor controlling SO2 tolerance in lichens. It presumably originally evolved as an adaptation to wet habitats preventing the depression of net photosynthesis due to supersaturation of the thallus with water. Hydrophilicity of lichen thalli is an adaptation to dry or humid, but not directly rain-exposed habitats. The crucial role of surface hydrophobicity in SO2 also explains why many markedly SO2-tolerant species are additionally tolerant to other (chemically unrelated) toxic substances including heavy metals.

Key words: Contact angle, hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, lotus effect, cortex, sulphur dioxide, air pollution, water uptake, lichens


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