Characterization of fungi from hypersaline environments of solar salterns using morphological and molecular techniques

Cantrell, Sharon A.; Casillas-Martínez, Lilliam; Molina, Marirosa

doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2006.06.005

Cited by 154 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Diversity studies have revealed that at low water potential the active mycota is dominated by species of Aspergillus and Penicillium, which are thus numerically the most common taxa [2], as observed in studies on Mono Lake [14], salterns of Slovenia [15], Arctic [16] and Cabo Rojo, [17], and our own studies on local salterns (unpublished data). Amongst the species obtained in this study, the isolation of A. unguis is a first report, while A. penicillioides, A. restrictus, A. versicolor, C. cladosporioides, P. steckii and P. corylophilum have been recorded in earlier work on the Dead Sea mycobiota [2,3,18,19], A. versicolor and C. cladosporioides having been reported as indigenous species [18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

A First Record of Obligate Halophilic Aspergilli from the Dead Sea

2011

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The isolation of obligate halophilic aspergilli from the Dead Sea and the range of salt tolerance of halophilic fungi isolated, are reported here for the first time. The mycobiota of the Dead Sea isolated in this study, was dominated by Aspergillus and Penicillium species; Cladosporium were found in lesser numbers. All three genera were obtained from the water sample; however, Aspergillus was the only genus obtained from the sediment. There was significant difference in growth of each isolate at different salt concentrations and intraspecies analysis revealed dissimilarity in response of strains to different salt concentrations in the growth medium The isolates were euryhaline, with halotolerance up to 20-25% solar salt, Aspergillus and Penicillium species showing a higher level of halotolerance, as compared to that of Cladosporium. Halophilic fungi were found in greater numbers in the sediment sample as compared to that in the water sample. Penicillium and Cladosporium species were exclusively facultative halophiles, while some species of Aspergillus were facultative halophiles. All the obligate halophiles isolated, belonged to the genus Aspergillus and were identified as A. penicillioides and A unguis, the latter being a first record of the species from the Dead Sea.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

A First Record of Obligate Halophilic Aspergilli from the Dead Sea

2011

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“…Phagotrophic protists are known to be successful along pelagic oxyclines where prokaryotes are abundant (see, for example, Behnke et al, 2006;Edgcomb et al, 2011a) and hence it follows that they are also successful within these haloclines. Fungi are active remineralizers of organic material, and given the known accumulation of organic detritus at these haloclines, and their known presence in other types of hypersaline habitats such as solar salterns (for example, Cantrell et al, 2006), it is not surprising that their signatures dominate in the lower halocline.…”

Section: Eukaryotic Signaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unveiling microbial activities along the halocline of Thetis, a deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basin

et al. 2014

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Deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea are considered some of the most hostile environments on Earth. Little is known about the biochemical adaptations of microorganisms living in these habitats. This first metatranscriptome analysis of DHAB samples provides significant insights into shifts in metabolic activities of microorganisms as physicochemical conditions change from deep Mediterranean sea water to brine. The analysis of Thetis DHAB interface indicates that sulfate reduction occurs in both the upper (7.0-16.3% salinity) and lower (21.4-27.6%) halocline, but that expression of dissimilatory sulfate reductase is reduced in the more hypersaline lower halocline. High dark-carbon assimilation rates in the upper interface coincided with high abundance of transcripts for ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase affiliated to sulfuroxidizing bacteria. In the lower interface, increased expression of genes associated with methane metabolism and osmoregulation is noted. In addition, in this layer, nitrogenase transcripts affiliated to uncultivated putative methanotrophic archaea were detected, implying nitrogen fixation in this anoxic habitat, and providing evidence of linked carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles.

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“…However, while 3 % NaCl represents a concentration that is toxic for S. cerevisiae, the same concentration of NaCl is close to the growth optimum for the halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii (Prista et al, 1997) and the halophilic black yeast Hortaea werneckii (GundeCimerman et al, 2000). The black yeast H. werneckii is a ubiquitous inhabitant of eutrophic hypersaline waters of salterns (Butinar et al, 2005;Cantrell et al, 2006;GundeCimerman et al, 2000) and is one of the most salt-tolerant eukaryotic organisms so far described. It can grow, albeit extremely slowly, in a nearly saturated salt solution (30 % or 5.1 M), as well as completely without salt (GundeCimerman et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Osmotic adaptation of the halophilic fungus Hortaea werneckii: role of osmolytes and melanization

et al. 2007

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This study was intended to determine the osmoadaptation strategy of Hortaea werneckii, an extremely salt-tolerant melanized ascomycetous fungus that can grow at 0-5.1 M NaCl. It has been shown previously that glycerol is the major compatible solute in actively growing H. werneckii. This study showed that the exponentially growing cells also contained erythritol, arabitol and mannitol at optimal growth salinities, but only glycerol and erythritol at maximal salinities. The latter two were both demonstrated to be major compatible solutes in H. werneckii, as their decrease correlated with the severity of hypoosmotic shock. Besides higher amounts of erythritol and lower amounts of glycerol, stationary-phase cells also contained mycosporineglutaminol-glucoside, which might act as a complementary compatible solute. H. werneckii is constitutively melanized under various salinity conditions. Ultrastructural study showed localization of melanin in the outer parts of the cell wall as a distinct layer at optimal salinity (0.86 M NaCl), whereas cell-wall melanization diminished at higher salinities. The role of melanized cell wall in the effective retention of glycerol is already known, and was also demonstrated in H. werneckii by lower retention of glycerol in cells with blocked melanization compared to melanized cells. However, these non-melanized cells compensated for the lower amounts of glycerol with higher amounts of erythritol and arabitol. We hypothesize that H. werneckii melanization is effective in reducing the permeability of its cell wall to its major compatible solute glycerol, which might be one of the features that helps it tolerate a wider range of salt concentrations than most organisms.

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Characterization of fungi from hypersaline environments of solar salterns using morphological and molecular techniques

Cited by 154 publications

References 18 publications

A First Record of Obligate Halophilic Aspergilli from the Dead Sea

A First Record of Obligate Halophilic Aspergilli from the Dead Sea

Unveiling microbial activities along the halocline of Thetis, a deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basin

Osmotic adaptation of the halophilic fungus Hortaea werneckii: role of osmolytes and melanization

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