Fungi in hot and cold deserts with particular reference to microcolonial fungi

Sterflinger, Katja; Tesei, Donatella; Zakharova, Kristina

doi:10.1016/j.funeco.2011.12.007

Cited by 166 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Melanin is a condensed, randomly arrayed, aromatic pigment that is located in the cell wall or extracellular matrix of fungi (161)(162)(163). It broadly protects fungi from an array of environmental stresses, including extreme heat and cold, drought, UV radiation, high salinity, heavy metals, and anthropogenic pollutants (164)(165)(166)(167)(168)(169)(170). As a result, melanized fungi are often disproportionately represented in extreme environments, such as the Antarctic (171,172).…”

Section: Stress Tolerancementioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal Traits That Drive Ecosystem Dynamics on Land

Treseder

Lennon

2015

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

413

296

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SUMMARY Fungi contribute extensively to a wide range of ecosystem processes, including decomposition of organic carbon, deposition of recalcitrant carbon, and transformations of nitrogen and phosphorus. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge about physiological and morphological traits of fungi that directly influence these processes, and we describe the functional genes that encode these traits. In addition, we synthesize information from 157 whole fungal genomes in order to determine relationships among selected functional genes within fungal taxa. Ecosystem-related traits varied most at relatively coarse taxonomic levels. For example, we found that the maximum amount of variance for traits associated with carbon mineralization, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, and stress tolerance could be explained at the levels of order to phylum. Moreover, suites of traits tended to co-occur within taxa. Specifically, the genetic capacities for traits that improve stress tolerance—β-glucan synthesis, trehalose production, and cold-induced RNA helicases—were positively related to one another, and they were more evident in yeasts. Traits that regulate the decomposition of complex organic matter—lignin peroxidases, cellobiohydrolases, and crystalline cellulases—were also positively related, but they were more strongly associated with free-living filamentous fungi. Altogether, these relationships provide evidence for two functional groups: stress tolerators, which may contribute to soil carbon accumulation via the production of recalcitrant compounds; and decomposers, which may reduce soil carbon stocks. It is possible that ecosystem functions, such as soil carbon storage, may be mediated by shifts in the fungal community between stress tolerators and decomposers in response to environmental changes, such as drought and warming.

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Section: Stress Tolerancementioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal Traits That Drive Ecosystem Dynamics on Land

Treseder

Lennon

2015

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

413

296

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“…Furthermore, the importance of filamentous fungi as rock colonizers and their ecological role in environments are not well-understood, especially in tropical and subtropical climates. More attention has been placed on the microcolonial fungi, meristematic fungi and yeasts of temperate climates (Sterflinger and Krumbein, 1997;Gorbushina et al, 2002;Chertov et al, 2004;Gorbushina et al, 2005;Ruibal et al, 2005;Sterflinger et al, 2012). Therefore, in order to expand our current understanding of the fungal community associated with limestone, we studied the culturable subset of fungi in biofilms exposed to similar environmental conditions and substratum properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cambios en la composición de la comunidad fúngica de biopelículas sobre roca calcárea a través de una cronosecuencia en Campeche, México

Gómez‐Cornelio¹,

Ortega-Morales²,

Morón‐Ríos³

et al. 2016

Acta Bot. Mex.

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Antecedentes y Objetivos: La colonización de los sustratos líticos por comunidades fúngicas está determinada por las propiedades del sustrato (bioreceptividad) y las condiciones climáticas y microclimáticas. Sin embargo, los efectos del tiempo de exposición de la superficie de la roca calcárea al ambiente sobre la composición de las comunidades fúngicas no se ha investigado. En este estudio, analizamos la composición y estructura de las comunidades fúngicas inmersas en biopelículas asociadas a roca calcárea, en paredes de edificaciones modernas construidas a diferentes tiempos en un ambiente subtropical en Campeche, México.Métodos: Se consideró una cronosecuencia de paredes construidas a uno, cinco y 10 años. Sobre cada pared, se rasparon tres superficies de 3 × 3 cm para cada biopelícula. Los hongos se aislaron por la técnica de lavado y filtración de partículas, posteriormente se inocularon en dos medios de cultivo contrastantes (un medio oligotrófico y uno copiotrófico). Los hongos se identificaron de acuerdo a sus características macro y microscópicas.Resultados clave: Encontramos 73 géneros y 202 especies de 844 aislados. Los resultados mostraron que las comunidades fúngicas son diferentes en las tres biopelículas. En la biopelícula de desarrollo intermedio encontramos un alto número de aislados, pero tanto la riqueza como la diversidad fueron bajas. En contraste, en la biopelícula avanzada, los valores de riqueza de especies y diversidad fueron altos, y las especies abundantes fueron Hyphomycete 1, Myrothecium roridum y Pestalotiopsis maculans. Las especies dominantes en la biopelícula intermedia fueron Curvularia lunata, Curvularia pallescens, Fusarium oxysporum y Fusarium redolens, y en la biopelícula joven fueron Cladosporium cladosporioides, Curvularia clavata, Paraconiothyrium sp. y Phoma eupyrena.Conclusiones: Nuestros resultados sugieren que la composición de la comunidad fúngica en cada biopelícula cambia de acuerdo al tiempo de exposición de la roca calcárea al ambiente. Además, como parte de la composición de la comunidad fúngica, encontramos un conjunto de especies poco comunes que podrían ser autóctonas en la roca calcárea.

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“…We observed that Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Chytridiomycota were detected ubiquitously in these desert soils. Dominant fungal genera and orders, identified as Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Pleosporales, and Stachybotrys, are well-known desert colonists (42).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unique Microbial Phylotypes in Namib Desert Dune and Gravel Plain Fairy Circle Soils

Walt

Johnson

Cowan

et al. 2016

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Fairy circles (FCs) are barren circular patches of soil surrounded by grass species. Their origin is poorly understood. FCs feature in both the gravel plains and the dune fields of the Namib Desert. While a substantial number of hypotheses to explain the origin and/or maintenance of fairy circles have been presented, none are completely consistent with either their properties or their distribution. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that FC formation in dunes and gravel plains is due to microbial phytopathogenesis. Surface soils from five gravel plain and five dune FCs, together with control soil samples, were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial/archaeal (16S rRNA gene) and fungal (internal transcribed spacer [ITS] region) phylogenetic markers. Our analyses showed that gravel plain and dune FC microbial communities are phylogenetically distinct and that FC communities differ from those of adjacent vegetated soils. Furthermore, various soil physicochemical properties, particularly the pH, the Ca, P, Na, and SO 4 contents, the soil particle size, and the percentage of carbon, significantly influenced the compositions of dune and gravel plain FC microbial communities, but none were found to segregate FC and vegetated soil communities. Nevertheless, 9 bacterial, 1 archaeal, and 57 fungal phylotypes were identified as FC specific, since they were present within the gravel plain and dune FC soils only, not in the vegetated soils. Some of these FC-specific phylotypes were assigned to taxa known to harbor phytopathogenic microorganisms. This suggests that these FC-specific microbial taxa may be involved in the formation and/or maintenance of Namib Desert FCs. IMPORTANCEFairy circles (FCs) are mysterious barren circular patches of soil found within a grass matrix in the dune fields and gravel plains of the Namib Desert. Various hypotheses attempting to explain this phenomenon have been proposed. To date, however, none have been successful in fully explaining the etiology of FCs, particularly since gravel plain FCs have been largely ignored. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that microorganisms could be involved in the FC phenomenon through phytopathogenesis. We show that the microbial communities in FC and control vegetated soil samples were significantly different. Furthermore, we detected 67 FC-specific microbial phylotypes, i.e., phylotypes present solely in both gravel plain and dune FC soils, some of which were closely related to known phytopathogens. Our results, therefore, demonstrate that microorganisms may play a role in the formation and/or maintenance of Namib Desert FCs, possibly via phytopathogenic activities. (1, 2). Common in the Namib Desert, and recently observed in the Australian outback (3), FCs are limited to arid areas that receive between 50 and 100 mm precipitation per annum. FCs are nonpermanent; they typically appear, enlarge, and disappear, with an estimated life span ranging from 22 to 60 years (4, 5).Although FCs were first reported in the 1970...

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Fungi in hot and cold deserts with particular reference to microcolonial fungi

Cited by 166 publications

References 76 publications

Fungal Traits That Drive Ecosystem Dynamics on Land

Fungal Traits That Drive Ecosystem Dynamics on Land

Cambios en la composición de la comunidad fúngica de biopelículas sobre roca calcárea a través de una cronosecuencia en Campeche, México

Unique Microbial Phylotypes in Namib Desert Dune and Gravel Plain Fairy Circle Soils

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