Lichens: A myriad hue of Bioresources with medicinal properties
Keywords:
Lichens, Biomonitors, Medicinal properties, Therapeutic potentialAbstract
Lichens form an ideal model to study its bioactive metabolites. A symbiotic association between fungus and a chlorophyll containing partner; the green algae or cyanobacteria, and sometimes both together form lichens. Lichens are important species for several reasons. The unique and biologically active substances present in the lichen thalli contribute to several important medicinal values of lichens like antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, cytotoxic effect and many more. All these manifold activities of lichen metabolites represent the therapeutic potential of lichens that has a great impact in Pharma industries. The present article is a review on the importance of lichens in contributing towards valuable resources emphasising on its medicinal properties.
Downloads
References
Ahmadjian VH (1995) Lichens are more important than you think. Bioscience 45:123–124.
Annette Kampa, Andrey N Gagunashvili, Tobias AM, Gulder Brandon I, Morinaka Markus Godejohann, Vivian PW, Miao, Jörn Piel and Ólafur S Andrésson (2013) Metagenomic natural product discovery in lichen provides evidence for a family of biosynthetic pathways in diverse symbioses. PNAS, 110 (33). Ari F, Ulukaya E, Oran S, Celikler S, Ozturk S, Ozel MZ (2015) Promising anticancer activity of a lichen, Parmelia sulcata Taylor, against breast cancer cell lines and genotoxic effect on human lymphocytes. Cytotechnology. 2015 May; 67(3):531-43.
Backorova M, Backor M, Mikes J, Jendzelovsky R, Fedorocko P (2011) Variable responses of different human cancer cells to the lichen compounds parietin, atranorin, usnic acid and gyrophoric acid. Toxicol In Vitro, 25, 37-44
Balaji P, Hariharan GN (2007) In vitro antimicrobial activity of Parmotrema praesorediosum thallus extracts. Res. J. Bot. 2(1), 54-59.
Beckett RP, Kranner I & Minibayeva FV (2008) Stress physiology and the symbiosis. In: Nash TH (ed.), Lichen biology, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 134-151.
Behera BC, Verma N, Sonone A, Makhija U (2005) Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of lichen Usnea ghattensis in vitro. Biotechnol Lett. 2005; 27:991–995.
Boustie JL, Grube M (2005) Lichens- a promising source of bioactive secondary metabolites. Plant. Genet. Res., 3, 273-87.
Cardile V, Graziano AC, Avola R, Piovano M, Russo A (2017) Potential anticancer activity of lichen secondary metabolite physodic acid. Chem Biol Interact. 2017 Feb 1; 263: 36-45.
Christian Printzen, Fernando Fernández-Mendoza, Lucia Muggia, Gabriele Berg and Martin Grube (2012) Alphaproteobacterial communities in geographically distant populations of the lichen Cetraria aculeate. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 82 (2)
Conti ME, Cecchetti G (2001) Biological monitoring: lichens as bioindicators of air pollution assessment—a review. Environ Pollut; 114:471–492.
Crawford S (2007) Ethnolichenology of Bryoria fremontii: wisdom of elders, population ecology, and nutritional chemistry. M.Sc. thesis, University of Victoria, Canada.
Culberson CF, Armaleo D (1992) Induction of a complete secondary product pathway in a cultured lichen fungus. Exp Mycol 16:52–63
Dayan FE, Romagni JG (2001) Lichens as a potential source of pesticides. Pesticide Outlook 12, 229-232.
DePriest PT (2004) Early molecular investigations of lichen-forming symbionts: 1986–2001. Annu Rev Microbiol. 58: 273–301 Ebrahim HY, Elsayed HE, Mohyeldin MM, Akl MR, Bhattacharjee J, Egbert S, El Sayed KA (2016) Norstictic Acid Inhibits Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Migration, Invasion, and In Vivo Invasive Growth Through Targeting C-Met. Phytother Res. ,30 (4) Einarsdóttir E, Groeneweg J, Björnsdóttir GG, Harethardottir G, Omarsdóttir S, Ingólfsdóttir K, Ogmundsdóttir HM (2010) Cellular mechanisms of the anticancer effects of the lichen compound usnic acid. Planta Med. ;76(10):969-74.
Elix JA (1996) Biochemistry and secondary metabolites. In: NASH T. H. III (eds.): Lichen biology, 1st ed.. Cambridge University Press, pp. 155–180.
Elix, JA & Stocker-Wörgötter E (2008) Biochemistry and secondary metabolites in Nash, TH (ed.) Lichen Biology (2nd. ed.). Cambridge University Press. Emsen B, Aslan A, Togar B, Turkez H (2016) In vitro antitumor activities of the lichen compounds olivetoric, physodic and psoromic acid in rat neuron and glioblastoma cells. Pharm Biol. 54(9):1748-62. Emsen B, Turkez H, Togar B, Aslan A (2017) Evaluation of antioxidant and cytotoxic effects of olivetoric and physodic acid in cultured human amnion fibroblasts. Hum Exp Toxicol. Apr;36(4):376-385. Fernández-Moriano C, Divakar PK, Crespo A, Gómez-Serranillos MP (2017) Protective effects of lichen metabolites evernic and usnic acids against redox impairment-mediated cytotoxicity in central nervous system-like cells, Food Chem Toxicol. 2017 Jul; 105:262-277
Fernández-Moriano C, Divakar PK, Crespo A, Gómez-Serranillos MP (2015) Neuroprotective activity and cytotoxic potential of two Parmeliaceae lichens: Identification of active compounds. Phytomedicine;22(9):847-55.
Feuerer T, Hawksworth D (2007) Biodiversity of lichens, including a world-wide analysis of checklist data based on Takhtajan’s floristic regions. Biodivers. Conserv. 16, 85-98.
Galanty A, Koczurkiewicz P, Wnuk D, Paw M, Karnas E, Podolak I, Węgrzyn M, Borusiewicz M, Madeja Z, Czyż J, Michalik M (2017) Usnic acid and atranorin exert selective cytostatic and anti-invasive effects on human prostate and melanoma cancer cells. Toxicol In Vitro., 40: 161-169. Ghate NB, Chaudhuri D, Sarkar R, Sajem AL, Panja S, Rout J, Mandal N (2013) An antioxidant extract of tropical lichen, Parmotrema reticulatum, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7. PLoS One. 2013 Dec 16; 8(12):e82293.
Hamada N, Miyagawa H, Miyawaki H, Inoue M (1996) Lichen substances in mycobionts of crustose lichens cultured on media with extra sucrose. Bryologist 99:71–74 Hmadjian VH (1995) Lichens are more important than you think. Bioscience 45:123–124
Huneck S (1999) The significance of lichens and theirmetabolites. Naturwissenschaften; 86:559-570.
Huneck S and Yoshimura I (1996) Identification of Lichen Substances. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, p. 493.
Karagoz A, Dogruoz N, Zeybek Z, Aslan A (2009) Antibacterial activity of some lichen extracts. J Med Plants Res. 3:1034–1039.
Launert E (1981) Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-37216-2. Manojlović N, Ranković B, Kosanić M, Vasiljević P, Stanojković T (2012) Chemical composition of three Parmelia lichens and antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of some their major metabolites. Phytomedicine. 15;19(13):1166-72.
Molina MC, Crespo A, Vicente C, Elix JA (2003) Differences in the composition of phenolics and fatty acids of cultured mycobiont and thallus of Physconia distorta. Plant Physiol Biochem 41:175–180
Molnár K., Farkas E (2010) Current results on biological activities of lichen secondary metabolites: a review. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung 65C: 157–173
Podterob A (2008) Chemical composition of lichens and their medical applications. Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal, 42, 582-588.
Ramya K and Thirunalasundari T (2013) Bioenigmatic Lichens. Biomedicine; 33.(2) 155-159.
Ramya K and Thirunalasundari T (2014) Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. App. Sci (2014) 3(11) 779-788. Ristic S, Rankovic B, Kosanić M, Stamenkovic S, Stanojković T, Sovrlić M, Manojlović N (2016) Biopharmaceutical Potential of Two Ramalina Lichens and their Metabolites, Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 17(7):651-8.
RM Godinho, HT Wolterbeek, T Verburg, MC Freitas (2008) Bioaccumulation behaviour of transplants of the lichen Flavoparmelia caperata in relation to total deposition at a polluted location in Portugal. Environmental Pollution, 151 (2): 318-325.
Rowe JG, Saenz MT, Garcia MD and Gil AM (1991) Additional contribution to the study of the antimicrobial activity and identification of lichenic substances in some lichens from Southern Spain. Ann. Pharm. Fr. 49(5): 278- 285.
Sharnoff SD (1997) Lichens and people. Shrestha G, El-Naggar AM, St Clair LL, O'Neill KL (2015) Anticancer activities of selected species of North American lichen extracts. Phytother Res. 29(1):100-7. Singh N, Nambiar D, Kale RK, Singh RP (2013) Usnic acid inhibits growth and induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human lung carcinoma A549 cells. Nutr Cancer, 65 Suppl 1:36-43.
Stocker-Wörgötter E (2008) Metabolic diversity of lichen-forming ascomycetous fungi: culturing, polyketide and shikimate metabolite production, and PKS genes. Natural Product Reports 25: 188–200.
Studzińska-Sroka E, Piotrowska H, Kucińska M, Murias M, Bylka W (2016) Cytotoxic activity of physodic acid and acetone extract from Hypogymnia physodes against breast cancer cell lines. Pharm Biol., Nov; 54(11).
Türk AO, Yılmaza M, Kivanc M and Türk H (2003) The antimicrobial activity of extracts of the lichen Cetraria aculeate and its protolichen sternic acid constituent. verlag der zeitschrift fur Naturforschun. 58:850-854. Zugic A, Jeremic I, Isakovic A, Arsic I, Savic S, Tadic V (2016) Evaluation of Anticancer and Antioxidant Activity of a Commercially Available CO2 Supercritical Extract of Old Man's Beard (Usnea barbata). PLoS One. 2016 Jan 8;11(1):e0146342. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146342. eCollection 2016.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/