Ribosomal DNA sequences were amplified from subfossils of the ascolichen Um
bilicaria cylindrica (L.) Delise ex Duby collected at the ablating edges of
Greenland glaciers. Surprisingly, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the
amplified rDNA sequences were not closely related to those of the lichen-f
orming fungus but rather represented two groups of psychrophilic basidiomyc
etes (orders Cystofilobasidiales and Sporidiales) and one group of ascomyce
tes (order Leotiales). Two of these groups, the Sporidiales and the Leotial
es, include other fungi previously detected in DNA extracted from the grass
clothing of the Tyrolean Iceman desiccated and frozen for over 3000 years
and also in 2000- and 4000-year-old ice core samples from northern Greenlan
d. Large subunit ribosomal DNA sequences representing the group Cystofiloba
sidiales were nearly identical to those of the basidioyeast saprobe Mrakia
frigida. The adjacent internal transcribed spacer sequence was more than 98
% similar to those from three samples of U. cylindrica from different sites
that had been subjected to ice burial for various lengths of time, suggest
ing they also were Mrakia sequences. Although ancient contamination of mult
iple U. cylindrica specimens with fungi such as Mrakia cannot be ruled out,
it is more probable that saprobic colonization of the subfossil tissues by
psychrophilic fungi proceeded during recent ice melt.