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Map of lichen collection sites. a. Overview of the location map. b. Location of South Shetlands Islands and Antarctica Peninsula. c-f. Zoomed-in details of the sampling sites. *The map was generated using QGIS software (version 3.14.15; https://www.QGIS.org) and the SCAR Antarctic Digital Database (ADD version 7.0; http://www.add.scar.org). ** Cladonia metacorallifera (L30); Lecania brialmontii (L19); Mastodia tessellata (L14); Polycauliona regalis (L15); Polycauliona candelaria (L4, L6, L13); Rhizocarpon geographicum (L23); Sphaerophorus globosus (L10); Umbilicaria decussata (L16); Usnea antarctica (L36); Usnea aurantiacoatra (L1, L2, L3, L25, L31, L33, L34, L35); Usnea capillacea (L11).
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In the Antarctic environment, yeasts are versatile eukaryotes that have shownwide dispersion in different substrates, producing active enzymes in extreme conditions,but their relevance in biotechnological applications is largely unknown. The aim of thisstudy was to evaluate the production of extracellular hydrolases by yeasts isolated fromAntarctic...
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Context 1
... samples of lichens were collected in the South Shetland Islands (maritime Antarctic) and Antarctic Peninsula during two Brazilian expeditions: OPERANTAR XXXV (2015/2016) and XXXVI (2016/2017). The photographic field record of the lichens in loco was obtained together with GPS data record of the sampling location (Figures 1 and 2). Samples of lichens were packed in distinctly sterile zip-lock bags and stored frozen for further analysis at the Federal University of Alagoas -Campus Arapiraca, Brazil. ...
Context 2
... low similarity of the 26S ribosomal gene sequence of isolate 11.L16 with sequence of reference organisms deposited in Genbank suggest that this isolate may represent a new genus of the order Tremellales. The identified yeasts were mainly associated with lichens U. aurantiacoatra, L. brialmontii, P. candelaria and P. regalis (Supplementary Material - Figure S1). Enzymatic activity was frequent among yeasts of the genus Vishniacozyma, with predominance of V. victoriae, whose isolates exhibited activity for all hydrolases evaluated: cellulases (n=21, 36%), esterases (n=17, 30%), proteases (n=11, 19%), pectinases (n=9, 45%), amylases (n=7, 30%), and lipases (n=4, 14%) (Table II). ...
Citations
... To verify agarase and carrageenase, the fungi were cultivated in YMA medium (0.3% yeast extract, 0.3% malt extract, 0.5% peptone, 1% glucose and 2% agar) supplemented with 1.5% agar or carrageenan, respectively, with extracellular activity detected by adding lugol to the plates, revealing a yellowish halo (Furbino et al. 2018). For amylase, starch was added as an inducer in YMA (6.7 g L −1 of YNB [Difco], 2 g L −1 of soluble starch and 20 g L −1 of agar) and lugol as a developer of the yellowish halo (da Silva et al. 2022). For cellulase, carboxymethylcellulose (5 g L −1 ) replaced glucose as a carbon source in YMA (1:10) and an orange halo was revealed after the addition of Congo red dye (2.5 g L −1 in Tris HCl buffer 0.1 M, pH 8) together with a 1 M NaCl solution for 15 min (Martorell et al. 2017). ...
... All assays were performed in duplicate. To compare enzymatic production across the isolates, the Enzyme Index (IE) was calculated, which corresponds to the ratio between the diameter of the hydrolysis halo and the diameter of the colony in mm (da Silva et al. 2022). Isolates that presented an EI ≥ 2 were considered good enzyme producers, following the criteria of Hankin & Anagnostakis (1975). ...
... isolates produced lipase, as previously reported by Duarte et al. (2013). The genus Holtermaniella has been reported as a good producer of invertase, esterase and carrageenan (Mokhtarnejad et al. 2016;da Silva et al. 2022;de Souza et al. 2023), consistent with H. wattica being found to be a good producer of esterase here. Isolates of Leucosporidium obtained here were good producers of the enzymes carrageenase, esterase, inulinase, protease and pectinase, and also produced lipase, corroborating results reported by Turkiewicz et al. (2003), Brizzio et al. (2007), Buzzini et al. (2012), Carrasco et al. (2012), Duarte et al. (2013Duarte et al. ( , 2017, Martorell et al. (2017), de Souza et al. (2023 and da Silva et al. (2022). ...
This study characterized cultivable fungi present in sediments obtained from Boeckella Lake, Hope Bay, in the north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula, and evaluated their production of enzymes and biosurfactants of potential industrial interest. A total of 116 fungal isolates were obtained, which were classified into 16 genera within the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota, in rank. The most abundant genera of filamentous fungi included Pseudogymnoascus, Pseudeurotium and Antarctomyces; for yeasts, Thelebolales and Naganishia taxa were dominant. Overall, the lake sediments exhibited high fungal diversity and moderate richness and dominance. The enzymes esterase, cellulase and protease were the most abundantly produced by these fungi. Ramgea cf. ozimecii, Holtermanniella wattica, Leucosporidium creatinivorum, Leucosporidium sp., Mrakia blollopis, Naganishia sp. and Phenoliferia sp. displayed enzymatic index > 2. Fourteen isolates of filamentous fungi demonstrated an Emulsification Index 24% (EI24%) ≥ 50%; among them, three isolates of A. psychrotrophicus showed an EI24% > 80%. Boeckella Lake itself is in the process of drying out due to the impact of regional climate change, and may be lost completely in approaching decades, therefore hosts a threatened community of cultivable fungi that produce important biomolecules with potential application in biotechnological processes.
... [83] Talaromyces rugulosus [80] [84] Trichoderma lixii [83] Trichoderma longibrachiatum [205] Trichoderma viride [75,203] [102] Trichoderma reesei [205] Trichoderma viridescens [210] [210] Trichoderma atroviride [205] Trichoderma koningii [205] Zalaria obscura [211] [211] Verrucocladosporium dirinae [207] Vishniacozyma victoriae [212] Wallemia aff. muriae [211] ...
Wooden Cultural Heritage (WCH) represents a significant portion of the world's historical and artistic heritage, consisting of immovable and movable artefacts. Despite the expertise developed since ancient times to enhance its durability, wooden artefacts are inevitably prone to degradation. Fungi play a pivotal role in the deterioration of WCH in terrestrial ecosystems, accelerating its decay and leading to alterations in color and strength. Reviewing the literature of the last 25 years, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of fungal diversity affecting WCH, the biochemical processes involved in wood decay, and the diagnostic tools available for fungal identification and damage evaluation. Climatic conditions influence the occurrence of fungal species in threatened WCH, characterized by a prevalence of wood-rot fungi (e.g., Serpula lacrymans, Coniophora puteana) in architectural heritage in temperate and continental climates and Ascomycota in indoor and harsh environments. More efforts are needed to address the knowledge fragmentation concerning biodiversity, the biology of the fungi involved, and succession in the degradative process, which is frequently centered solely on the main actors. Multidisciplinary collaboration among engineers, restorers, and life sciences scientists is vital for tackling the challenges posed by climate change with increased awareness. Traditional microbiology and culture collections are fundamental in laying solid foundations for a more comprehensive interpretation of big data.
... Taxa of Penicillium, Cladosporium, Antarctomyces and Meyerozyma were effective producers of proteases. High production of this enzyme family has been reported widely in Antarctic fungi, in genera such as Pseudogymnoascus, Thelebolus, Cadophora, Acremonium and Trichoderma (Krishnan et al. 2011;Martorell et al. 2019;Duarte et al. 2018a) and by the yeast species Glaciozyma antarctica, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Leucosporidium creatinivorum, Metschnikowia australis and Vishniacozyma victoriae (Turkiewicz et al. 2003;Lario et al. 2015;Martorell et al. 2017;de Souza et al. 2022;da Silva et al. 2022a). Invertase was the second most common enzyme produced by the isolates in this study (85%). ...
... Furbino et al. (2018) reported several fungal taxa with activity for these enzymes, including Beauveria, Cladosporium, Doratomyces and Penicillium (including P. chrysogenum). There have been many reports of Antarctic fungi being able to exhibit cellulolytic activity (Krishnan et al. 2011;Loperena et al. 2012;Vaca et al. 2013;Herrera et al. 2017;Duarte et al. 2018a;de Souza et al. 2022;da Silva et al. 2022a). Additionally, the Penicillium species recovered here were significant producers of extracellular pectinases. ...
... With the general lack of enzymatic profiling studies of fungi cultivated from Antarctic marine sediments, the data presented here highlight the possible contribution of these taxa to the degradation of proteins, lipids and different carbohydrates in the depths of the Southern Ocean (Duarte et al. 2018a;Varrella et al. 2021). Hydrolytic enzymes of extremophilic fungi such as those found in the taxa studied here, involved in reactions that occur at low or moderate temperatures, have potential relevance for applications in the food, textile, cosmetic, medical, agricultural and environmental industries (Duarte et al. 2018a;da Silva et al. 2022a). ...
We studied the culturable fungal community recovered from deep marine sediments in the maritime Antarctic, and assessed their capabilities to produce exoenzymes, emulsifiers and metabolites with phytotoxic activity. Sixty-eight Ascomycota fungal isolates were recovered and identified. The most abundant taxon recovered was the yeast Meyerozyma guilliermondii, followed by the filamentous fungi Penicillium chrysogenum, P. cf. palitans, Pseudeurotium cf. bakeri, Thelebolus balaustiformis, Antarctomyces psychrotrophicus and Cladosporium sp. Diversity indices displayed low values overall, with the highest values obtained at shallow depth, decreasing to the deepest location sampled. Only M. guilliermondii and P. cf. palitans were detected in the sediments at all depths sampled, and were the most abundant taxa at all sample sites. The most abundant enzymes detected were proteases, followed by invertases, cellulases, lipases, carrageenases, agarases, pectinases and esterases. Four isolates showed good biosurfactant activity, particularly the endemic species A. psychrotrophicus. Twenty-four isolates of P. cf. palitans displayed strong phytotoxic activities against the models Lactuca sativa and Allium schoenoprasum. The cultivable fungi recovered demonstrated good biosynthetic activity in the production of hydrolytic exoenzymes, biosurfactant molecules and metabolites with phytotoxic activity, reinforcing the importance of documenting the taxonomic, ecological and biotechnological properties of fungi present in deep oceanic sediments of the Southern Ocean.
... Leucosporidium includes yeasts commonly inhabiting low-temperature environments of polar and temperate regions [62]. In Antarctica, Leucosporidum taxa have been detected, mainly in traditional culturing studies, in seawater [60] and associated with the plant Colobanthus quitensis [59] and lichen thalli [65] in maritime Antarctica. ...
We assessed soil fungal and fungal‐like diversity using metabarcoding in ornithogenically influenced soils around nests of the bird species Phalacrocorax atriceps , Macronectes giganteus , Pygoscelis antarcticus , and Pygoscelis adelie on the South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctic. A total of 1,392,784 fungal DNA reads was obtained and assigned to 186 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The dominant fungal phylum was Ascomycota , followed by Basidiomycota , Chytridiomycota , Blastocladiomycota , Rozellomycota , Mortierellomycota , Monoblepharomycota , Aphelidiomycota , Basidiobolomycota , Mucoromycota , and the fungal‐like Oomycota (Stramenopila), in rank order. Antarctomyces sp., Blastocladiomycota sp., Pseudogymnoascus pannorum , Microascaceae sp., Mortierella sp., Lobulomycetales sp., Sordariomycetes sp., Fungal sp., Rhizophydiales sp., Pseudeurotiaceae sp., Chytridiomycota sp. 1, Filobasidiella sp., Tausonia pullulans , Betamyces sp., and Leucosporidium sp. were the most abundant assigned taxa. The fungal assemblages present in the different ornithogenically influenced soils displayed different diversity indices. However, in general, we detected high fungal diversity and few taxa shared between the samples. Despite the polyextreme environmental conditions experienced in these Antarctic soils, the metabarcoding approach detected a rich and complex fungal community dominated by saprophytes, but with some pathogenic taxa also present. The community was dominated by psychrophilic and psychrotolerant taxa, some apparently endemic to Antarctica, and those identified only at higher taxonomic levels, which may represent currently undescribed fungi. The mycobiome detected included taxa characterized by different ecological roles, including saprotrophic, human‐ and animal‐associated, phytopathogenic, mutualistic, and cosmopolitan. These fungi may potentially be dispersed by birds or in the air column over great distances, including between different regions within Antarctica and from South America, Africa, and Oceania.
... Antarctic microorganisms have already been reported regarding their abilities in synthesizing a variety of enzymes active at low temperatures, including proteases, amylases, cellulases, lipases, and laccases [67]. Ligninolytic fungi are able to degrade PAHs using enzymes from an extracellular enzyme complex that is normally used to depolymerize lignin. ...
Microorganisms that inhabit the cold Antarctic environment can produce ligninolytic enzymes potentially useful in bioremediation. Our study focused on characterizing Antarctic bacteria and fungi from marine sediment samples of King George and Deception Islands, maritime Antarctica, potentially affected by hydrocarbon influence, able to produce enzymes for use in bioremediation processes in environments impacted with petroleum derivatives. A total of 168 microorganism isolates were obtained: 56 from sediments of King George Island and 112 from Deception Island. Among them, five bacterial isolates were tolerant to cell growth in the presence of diesel oil and gasoline and seven fungal were able to discolor RBBR dye. In addition, 16 isolates (15 bacterial and one fungal) displayed enzymatic emulsifying activities. Two isolates were characterized taxonomically by showing better biotechnological results. Psychrobacter sp. BAD17 and Cladosporium sp. FAR18 showed pyrene tolerance (cell growth of 0.03 g mL−1 and 0.2 g mL−1) and laccase enzymatic activity (0.006 UL−1 and 0.10 UL−1), respectively. Our results indicate that bacteria and fungi living in sediments under potential effect of hydrocarbon pollution may represent a promising alternative to bioremediate cold environments contaminated with polluting compounds derived from petroleum such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dyes.
... However, the characterization of the chemical fingerprint of the species could contribute to elucidate their similarities and differences and new groupings. On the other hand, L. brialmontii, together with species of the genera Usnea, Polycauliona and Cladonia, have been reported as a source of leavenings that produce extracellular hydrolytic enzymes and are of interest in biotechnological applications of catalytic origin [35]. ...
The lichen species Lecania brialmontii, Pseudephebe pubescens, and Sphaerophorus globosus are part of the prominent lichenoflora of the Antarctic territory. In this work, we report the metabolomic identification of ethanolic extracts of these species, their antioxidant and cholinesterase enzyme inhibitory activity, and conduct a molecular docking analysis with typical compounds. Eighteen compounds were identified by UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS in L. brialmontii, 18 compounds in P. pubescens, and 14 compounds in S. globosus. The content of phenolic compounds was variable among the species, ranging from 0.279 to 2.821 mg AG/g, and all three species showed high inhibition potential on the cholinesterase enzymes. Molecular docking showed important interactions between AChE and BChE with the selected compounds. This study evidences the chemical fingerprint of three species of the order Lecanorales that support the continuation of the study of other biological activities and their potential for medical research.
... The yeasts were previously isolated from 15 lichen samples from maritime Antarctica during two Brazilian Expedition to Antarctica: Operation Antarctica XXXIV (December 2015) and XXXV (December 2016) ( Table 1). The yeasts in this study were previously preserved and isolated from the study as described by da Silva et al. (2022) and kept in the 20% glycerol at − 80.0 °C and reactivations were carried out at Yeast Malt Agar (YMA), which contained (g/L): 5.0 peptone; yeast extract 3.0; glucose 10.0, malt extract 3.0 and Agar 15.0. Finally, the plates were incubated at 15.0 °C for 7 days. ...
Antarctica has a great diversity of microorganisms with biotechnological potential but is not very well Known about yeasts with phosphate solubilization activity. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of yeasts from Antarctica lichens to solubilize phosphate in vitro. In the screening, 147 yeasts were tested and 43 (29%) showed P solubilization in solid NBRIP medium at 15.0 °C, with a higher prevalence of positive genera Vishniacozyma, followed by Cystobasidium. Most of the positive yeasts were isolated from Usnea auratiacoatra, followed by Polycauliona regalis and Lecania brialmontii. Two strains with better activity after screening were selected for the solubilization in the liquid medium, Vishniacozyma victoriae 2.L15 and A.L6 (unidentified). Vishniacozyma victoriae 2.L15 exhibiting activities at 25.0 °C (29.91 mg/L of phosphate and pH 6.85) and at 30.0 °C (619.04 mg/L of phosphate and pH 3.73) and A.L6 strain at 25.0 °C (25.05 mg/L of phosphate and pH 6.69) and at 30.0 °C (31.25 mg/L of phosphate and pH 6.47). Of eight organic acids tested by HPLC, tartaric and acetic acids were detected during phosphate solubilization, with greater release in the period of 144 (2.13 mg/L) and 72 (13.72 mg/L) hours, respectively. Future studies to elucidate the presence of functional genes for P metabolism in lichens, as well as studies in the field of proteomics for the discovery of yeast proteins related to P solubilization are needed. Thus, the high prevalence of lichen-associated yeast communities probably contributed to the high frequency of phosphate-solubilizing isolates in this study.
Graphical abstract
... Mrakia includes species recognized as coldadapted in Arctic [66,67], alpine [68] and Patagonian [69] ecosystems. In Antarctica, representatives of Mrakia are reported from soils, lake sediments [56,[70][71][72] and lichen thalli [58,73]. Mrakia species from Antarctic soils and lakes have been reported to produce cellulase, protease, lipase, invertase, amylase, esterase, pectinase and gelatinase [33,37,38,52,54,56]. da Silva et al. [73] recovered M. gelida, M. niccombsii and Mrakia sp. from Antarctic lichens thalli, capable of producing a broad range of extracellular hydrolases including protease, amylase, cellulase, esterase, lipase and pectinase. ...
... In Antarctica, representatives of Mrakia are reported from soils, lake sediments [56,[70][71][72] and lichen thalli [58,73]. Mrakia species from Antarctic soils and lakes have been reported to produce cellulase, protease, lipase, invertase, amylase, esterase, pectinase and gelatinase [33,37,38,52,54,56]. da Silva et al. [73] recovered M. gelida, M. niccombsii and Mrakia sp. from Antarctic lichens thalli, capable of producing a broad range of extracellular hydrolases including protease, amylase, cellulase, esterase, lipase and pectinase. ...
We evaluated the diversity and enzymatic activities of culturable fungi recovered from cotton baits submerged for 2 years in Hennequin Lake, King George Island, and from benthic biofilms in Kroner Lake, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctica. A total of 154 fungal isolates were obtained, representing in rank abundance the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota. Thelebolus globosus, Goffeauzyma sp., Pseudogymnoascus verrucosus and Metschnikowia australis were the most abundant taxa. The fungal community obtained from the biofilm was more diverse and richer than that recovered from the cotton baits. However, diversity indices suggested that the lakes may harbour further fungal diversity. The capabilities of all cultured fungi to produce the extracellular enzymes cellulase, protease, lipase, agarase, carrageenase, invertase, amylase, esterase, pectinase, inulinase and gelatinase at low temperature were evaluated. All enzymes were detected, but the most widely produced were protease and pectinase. The best enzymatic indices were obtained from Holtermanniella wattica (for invertase, esterase), Goffeauzyma sp. (amylase), Metschnikowia australis (protease), Mrakia blollopis (cellulase, pectinase), Pseudogymnoascus verrucosus (agarase, carrageenase) and Leucosporidium fragarium (inulinase). The detection of multiple enzymes reinforces the ecological role of fungi in nutrient cycling in Antarctic lakes, making nutrients available to the complex aquatic food web. Furthermore, such low-temperature-active enzymes may find application in different biotechnological processes, such as in the textile, pharmaceutical, food, detergent and paper industries, as well as environmental application in pollutant bioremediation processes.
Plant Growth-Promoting Yeasts (PGPY) have garnered significant attention in recent years; however, research on PGPY from mangroves remains a largely unexplored frontier. This study, therefore, focused on exploring the multifaceted plant growth-promoting (PGP) capabilities of yeasts isolated from mangroves of Puthuvype and Kumbalam. The present work found that manglicolous yeasts exhibited diverse hydrolytic properties, with the predominance of lipolytic activity, in addition to other traits such as phosphate solubilization, and production of indole acetic acid, siderophore, ammonia, catalase, nitrate, and hydrogen cyanide. After screening for 15 PGP traits, three strains P 9, PV 23, and KV 35 were selected as the most potent ones. These strains also exhibited antagonistic activity against fungal phytopathogens and demonstrated resilience to abiotic stresses, making them not only promising biocontrol agents but also suited for field application. The potent strains P 9, PV 23, and KV 35 were molecularly identified as Candida tropicalis, Debaryomyces hansenii, and Aureobasidium melanogenum, respectively. The potential of these strains in enhancing the growth performance of mangrove seedlings of Rhizophora mucronata, was demonstrated using the pot-experiment. The results suggested that the consortium of three potent strains (P 9, PV 23, and KV 35) was more effective in increasing the number of shoot branches (89.2%), plant weight (87.5%), root length (83.3%), shoot height (57.9%) and total leaf area (35.1%) than the control seedlings. The findings of this study underscore the significant potential of manglicolous yeasts in contributing to mangrove conservation and restoration efforts, offering a comprehensive understanding of their diverse plant growth-promoting mechanisms and highlighting their valuable role in sustainable ecosystem management.
The retreat of glaciers in Antarctica has increased in the last decades due to global climate change, influencing
vegetation expansion, and soil physico-chemical and biological attributes. However, little is known about soil
microbiology diversity in these periglacial landscapes. This study characterized and compared bacterial and
fungal diversity using metabarcoding of soil samples from the Byers Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica. We identified
bacterial and fungal communities by amplification of bacterial 16 S rRNA region V3–V4 and fungal internal
transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1). We also applied 14C dating on soil organic matter (SOM) from six profiles. Physicochemical
analyses and attributes associated with SOM were evaluated. A total of 14,048 bacterial ASVs were
obtained, and almost all samples had 50% of their sequences assigned to Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria.
Regarding the fungal community, Mortierellomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the main phyla from
1619 ASVs. We found that soil age was more relevant than the distance from the glacier, with the oldest soil
profile (late Holocene soil profile) hosting the highest bacterial and fungal diversity. The microbial indices of the
fungal community were correlated with nutrient availability, soil reactivity and SOM composition, whereas the
bacterial community was not correlated with any soil attribute. The bacterial diversity, richness, and evenness
varied according to presence of permafrost and moisture regime. The fungal community richness in the surface
horizon was not related to altitude, permafrost, or moisture regime. The soil moisture regime was crucial for the
structure, high diversity and richness of the microbial community, specially to the bacterial community. Further
studies should examine the relationship between microbial communities and environmental factors to better
predict changes in this terrestrial ecosystem.
