Isolation and Characterization of Halotolerant Soil Fungi from the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma (USA)

Abstract

The Great Salt Plains (GSP) of Oklahoma is an inland terrestrial hypersaline environment where saturated brines leave evaporite crusts of NaCl. The current report examines the fungal community, complementing earlier reports on the bacterial and archaeal communities. Twenty-five fungal isolates from GSP soils were obtained on medium containing 10% NaCl and characterized. Based on 18S rRNA gene sequence analysis, all of the isolates fall within the Ascomycetes, with a predominance of Trichocomaceae, represented by Aspergillus, Eurotium, and Penicillium species. Representatives of Anthrinium, Cladosporium, Debaryomyces, Fusarium, and Ulocladium also were isolated. Overall the isolates were widely halotolerant, with best growth observed at lower salinities and no halophilism. The fungal genera observed were all cosmopolitan, without strong specialization. Taken together, these results support the conclusion that hypersaline environments do not have a characteristic community, in contrast to what was observed at the GSP for bacteria and archaea.

Diversity of Microorganisms in Biocrusts Surrounding Highly Saline Potash Tailing Piles in Germany

“…), halophytes common in coastal habitats [ 3 , 4 ], as well as salt-tolerant fauna [ 5 , 6 ], are getting established in these anthropogenically disturbed areas. Various studies have addressed the occurrence of microbial phototrophs [ 7 ], fungi [ 8 , 9 , 10 ] and bacteria as well as Archaea [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] in hypersaline environments alone. However, microbial community composition in biocrusts from naturally saline habitats was described in a few studies only [ 15 , 16 ] and that of German potash tailing piles exclusively by Sommer et al [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Characterization of Lignocellulolytic Activities from a Moderate Halophile Strain of Aspergillus caesiellus Isolated from a Sugarcane Bagasse Fermentation

“…The selection forces we used to isolate microorganisms able to degrade lignocellulosic material under high salinity conditions were a complex source of carbon and energy (sugarcane bagasse) and 2 M NaCl. High NaCl concentrations inhibit the growth of most microorganisms; this ratio may explain the very low representation of the microbial population obtained during primary isolation taking in account that it came from a non-saline environment [1] , [62] – [64] .…”

Isolation and characterization of halophilic soil fungi from the salt desert of Little Rann of Kutch, India

“…Microbial diversity of the region was found to be low, in accordance with the studies conducted in other hypersaline habitats around the world. (Borut 1960;Ranzoni 1968;Salama et al 1971;Khodair et al 1991;Gunde-Cimmerman et al 2000;Grishkan et al 2003;Evans et al 2013). Tolerance index of fungi revealed the isolates as being predominantly halotolerant, with only Aspergillus versicolor KR87 being a halophile.…”