Author/Editor		Gunde-Cimerman, Nina; Frisvad, Jens C; Zalar, Polona; Plemenitaš, Ana
Title		Halotolerant and halophilic fungi
Type		članek
Source		In: Deshmukh SK, Rai MK, editors. Biodiversity of fungi: their role in human life. Enfield, New Hampshire: Science publishers,
Publication year		2005
Volume		str. 69-127
Language		eng
Abstract		Hypersaline environments provide special living conditions for microorganisms. They are extreme environments because of high concentrations of NaCI and other salts, and sometimes occasional rapid changes in water activity (aw), low oxygen concentration, and high UV radiation. It has been a common belief that eukaryotic organisms, with few exceptions, are unable to adapt to these extreme conditions and that such environments are populated almost exclusively by bacteria, Archaea and one eukaryotic species, the alga Dunaliella salina. All fungi growing on low water activity substrates were termed xerophiles, due to the belief they reflected a general xerophylic phenotype, determined primarily by the water potential of the medium and not by the chemical nature of the solute. It was assumed that fungi do not populate natural hypersaline environments. Only a few reports described isolation of fungi from natural, moderately saline environments such as salt marshes, saline soil and sea water. These isolates were mainly categorized as ubiquitous fungi, not specifically adapted to saline environments or halotolerant flush. But recently, a considerable diversity of halophilic and halotolerant fungi, belonging to several genera of melanized and non-melanized filamentous fungi and yeasts, is becoming evident in natural hypersaline environments. Further, it is becoming increasingly clear that this indigenous halophilic mycobiota is adapted to long-term survival and vegetative growth. To this group belong different species of black yeasts: Hortaea werneckii, Phaeotheca triangularis, Trimmatostroma salinum and certain species of Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Eurotium, Penicillium and Wallemia. This observations have been substantiated by in vitro physiological tests and genetic properties. (Abstract truncated at 2000 characters)
Descriptors		FUNGI YEASTS SODIUM CHLORIDE ECOSYSTEM FOOD CONTAMINATION SOIL SEAWATER CLADOSPORIUM ASPERGILLUS PENICILLIUM FUSARIUM CELL MEMBRANE ADAPTATION, BIOLOGICAL