GELIFES Seminars - Ilaria Chiocchio

Ilaria Chiocchio (University of Bologna)

Understanding lichen adaptation to dry grasslands based on a metabolomics-based frameworks

Lichens are self-sustaining ecosystems arising from the symbiosis between fungi and photosynthetic partners, characterized by a remarkable chemical diversity and a high sensitivity to environmental conditions. Despite their ecological relevance, the biochemical mechanisms underlying lichen adaptation to abiotic factors remain only partially understood. In this presentation, we explore the chemodiversity, metabolic regulation, and environmental responsiveness of four Cladonia species inhabiting dry grasslands of the Ticino River valley (Italy), using a 1H NMR-based metabolomics approach. By following these lichens across a full annual cycle and multiple sampling sites, we combine untargeted metabolite profiling with multivariate analyses to disentangle inter- and intraspecific metabolic variation. Our results show that Cladonia species can be effectively discriminated based on both characteristic secondary metabolites and species-specific patterns in primary metabolism. Moreover, we demonstrate that temperature acts as a major driver of metabolomic shifts, affecting carbon and nitrogen metabolism across species. In particular, we identify key metabolites involved in chilling responses and reveal, for the first time in lichens, the accumulation of β-glucopyranose(1→2)mannitol at higher temperatures. Overall, this study provides new insights into the metabolic flexibility of Cladonia lichens, highlighting tightly regulated carbon–nitrogen interactions in response to abiotic stimuli, and offering a metabolomics-based framework to better understand lichen adaptation and to guide their targeted harvesting for applied purposes.

Biosketch:
Ilaria Chiocchio is employed as a tenure track Assist. Prof. at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna. Her background is in natural products chemistry and since her Master’s she has been fascinated by plant’s specialized metabolites which she studied through metabolomics (NMR or MS-based) and classical phytochemical techniques. Her research aims to achieve an in-depth understanding of plants by exploring their metabolome and its variation in relation to phenological development and in response to environmental or anthropogenic stimuli. In parallel, she works on the identification of bioactive compounds with potential applications in the medical, agricultural, and environmental fields.