Diversity, distribution, and ecology of viable fungi in permafrost and active layer of Maritime Antarctica

• Published in: Extremophiles : life under extreme conditions Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 565 - 576
• Main Authors: da Silva, Thamar Holanda, Silva, Débora Amorim Saraiva, de Oliveira, Fábio Soares, Schaefer, Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud, Rosa, Carlos Augusto, Rosa, Luiz Henrique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01-07-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Distribution; Fungi; Life Sciences; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; New species; Original Paper; Permafrost; Space life sciences; Species diversity; Substrates; Taxa; Yeasts; Antarctica; Fungi; Antarctica; Permafrost; Diversity
• ISSN: 1431-0651; 1433-4909
• DOI: 10.1007/s00792-020-01176-y

We evaluated the diversity and distribution of viable fungi present in permafrost and active layers obtained from three islands of Maritime Antarctica. A total of 213 fungal isolates were recovered from the permafrost, and 351 from the active layer, which were identified in 58 taxa; 27 from permafrost and 31 from the active layer.
Oidiodendron
,
Penicillium
, and
Pseudogymnoascus
taxa were the most abundant in permafrost.
Bionectriaceae
,
Helotiales
,
Mortierellaceae
, and
Pseudeurotium
were the most abundant in the active layer. Only five shared both substrates. The yeast
Mrakia blollopis
represented is the first reported on Antarctic permafrost. The fungal diversity detected was moderate to high, and composed of cosmopolitan, cold-adapted, and endemic taxa, reported as saprobic, mutualistic, and parasitic species. Our results demonstrate that permafrost shelters viable fungi across the Maritime Antarctica, and that they are contrasting to the overlying active layer. We detected important fungal taxa represented by potential new species, particularly, those genetically close to
Pseudogymnoascus destructans
, which can cause extinction of bats in North America and Eurasia. The detection of viable fungi trapped in permafrost deserves further studies on the extension of its fungal diversity and its capability to expand from permafrost to other habitats in Antarctica, and elsewhere.