Impact of the Temperature in Endophytic Ascomycota Isolated from Antarctic Hair-Grass

Antarctica is one of the most inhospitable continents on the planet, with lichens and mosses being the most common terrestrial organisms in ice-free areas. Antarctica is represented by only two species of Angiosperms, Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae) and Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl. (C...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Life
Main Authors: Fabíola Lucini, Guilherme Afonso Kessler de Andrade, Filipe de Carvalho Victoria, Margéli Pereira de Albuquerque
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Subjects:
endophitic fungi Phylogeny
biodiversity
antarctic ecology
molecular biology
ITS
nLSU
Science
Q
Antarctic
King George Island
Keller
Keller peninsula
Half Moon Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/life12101501
https://doaj.org/article/8b76e923fabf4362bdfe38ec19391e47
Description
Summary:Antarctica is one of the most inhospitable continents on the planet, with lichens and mosses being the most common terrestrial organisms in ice-free areas. Antarctica is represented by only two species of Angiosperms, Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae) and Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl. (Caryophyllaceae). In this study, we characterized fungi isolated from the fresh leaves of this grass species. The fungi were isolated from four individual plants from Half Moon Island (246 leaf fragments investigated), and seven from King George Island-Keller Peninsula (with 111 leaf fragments investigated) Antarctica. Neoascochyta paspali , Septoriella elongata , Pyrenophora cf. chaetomioides and Alternaria sp. were associated with the plant and identified through analysis of the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the rDNA and nuclear ribosomal large subunit rRNA gene (LSU) as well as through macro and micro-morphological characteristics. The isolates showed higher growth rate ranging from 10 to 20 °C. An interesting result was that the aforementioned fungi are already recognized as both plant pathogens and endophytic fungi. The results demonstrate that D. antarctica is an interesting fungal source. Those species might provide important information about the relationship on the endemic Antarctic biota.

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