Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Symbiosis is the living together of different organisms, often to mutual benefit. By sharing cellular goods and services, symbioses have evolved to solve problems individual organisms could not tackle on their own. Lichens are composed of fungi and algae that on their own resemble microbes, but together form intricate macroscopic architectures optimized for photosynthesis and ventilation. It is unknown how they achieve these structures, but solving this could be a major step in understanding microbial self-organization. This research program combines genomics, microscopy and bioinformatics to understand how lichens form 3D architectures in the course of their development and over evolution.