LAUSR

The new species Asterochloris sejongensis sp. nov. has been collected from four localities of King George Island, Antarctica, and is described as a phycobiont of the lichen species Cladonia pyxidata and Sphaerophorus globosus . This discovery is based on morphological and molecular data obtained using light microscopy, confocal laser microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and two molecular markers; nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA and actin genes. This species is characterized by five unique hemi-CBCs in the nuclear ITS transcripts, deeply lobed and echinulate chloroplasts (depending on the life stage), and two rows of pyrenoglobuli associated with two thylakoid envelopes. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and actin gene sequences indicated that this new species is closely related to A. woessiae and forms a distinct well-supported lineage with the genus.