Halophilic Mycoflora: Exploring Coastal Diversity in India | InformativeBD

M. Helan Soundra Rani and M. Kalaiselvam from the different institute of the india,wrote a research article about, Halophilic Mycoflora: Exploring Coastal Diversity in India, entitled, "Diversity of halophilic mycoflora habitat in saltpans of Tuticorin and Marakkanam along southeast coast of India". This research paper published by the International Journal of Microbiology and Mycology|IJMM. an open access scholarly research journal on Microbiology, under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences | INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

 Abstract

Highly diverse biological system of solar salterns with different salinities, often provide high densities of mycofloral populations, makes the salterns excellent model systems for both its diverse and activity. In this study, diversity of halophilic fungi in six stations which includes reservoir, evaporator and crystallizer pond of both Marakkanam and Tuticorin saltpans in relation to environmental parameters were carried out for a period of two years. 95 species of halophilic fungi from water and sediment samples belongs to 41 genera were recorded in both saltpans. Aspergillus and Penicillium species were recorded as dominant, vast differences in growth of each isolate at different salt concentrations in the ponds were observed. This paper also elucidated the slight fluctuations in physico-chemical parameter among the ponds with respect to seasonal variations were also recorded.

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Introduction

Saltpans are man-made seasonal ponds constructed mainly for the production of raw salt. These ponds offer an experimental system with an extreme environmental conditions include high and low temperature, pH, pressure, salt concentration, low nutrient concentration, water availability and also conditions having high levels of radiation, harmful heavy metals, toxic compounds (organic solvents) and strong gradient in biodiversity of primary and secondary producers. (Satyanarayana et al., 2005). It is one such example for thalassohaline environment, it contains the salinity range of five to ten times saltier than seawater (150-300 g/l salt concentration). Life at high salt concentrations requires special adaptations of the cell’s physiology. Microbes must sense environmental stresses, transduce these signals and mount protective responses to survive in hostile environments (Nikolaou et al., 2009).

Most microbial diversity studies in salterns have focused on halophilic Archaea bacteria of the order Halobacteriales, which comprise the main microbial component in these environments (Oren, 2002). Other organisms such as algae, protozoa, eubacteria and even fungi are also found in the salterns, even though it was thought that they could not survive under extreme salt conditions (Gunde-Cimerman et al., 2004). Fungi are ubiquitous in most ecosystems where they usually colonize a diverse range of substrates. Fungal cell adaptations to high saline environment are the promising biological process and the level of plasma-membrane fluid fluctuation are indicators of fitness for survival and adaptability in fungi obtained from extreme environments (Turk et al., 2007). Unique in-situ morphology was interpreted as a response to multiple stress factors which can adapt to extreme conditions. The accumulation of osmoprotective compounds such as polyols (glycerol) sugars (trehalose and manitol) and some unusual amino acids may also play an important role under salt stress (Griffith, 1994).

Enumeration of fungi in these habitats revealed their presence in relatively large numbers (up to 4×104 ml–1), but the biodiversity appears to be limited to a small number of fungal genera. At present, 106 orders of fungi were known to tolerate at low water activity (Kirk et al., 2001). Within Ascomycota, the main orders with halophilic and halotolerant representatives are Capnodiales, Sporidiales, Dothideales and Eurotiales. Both orders Capnodiales and Dothideales have a xerotolerant tendency, as they contain a large number of extremotolerant species that can grow as epilithic or cryptoendolithic species at high or low temperatures (Selbmann et al., 2005) and hypersaline coastal areas worldwide.

This new ecological findings are not only important for our understanding of microbial processes in hypersaline environments worldwide, but also for not yet fully acknowledged. Though, the sequence of works regarding halophilic fungi from solar saltern environments has been carried out for the past two decades in many continents but the meager works were contributed by Indian subcontinent. Owing to the lack of studies on mycofloral in salterns along the Indian coast, the present study was carried out to understand the ecology and diversity, seasonal variations, frequency of occurrence and distribution of fungi in relation to physico-chemical parameters in Tuticorin and Marakkanam saltpans along southeast coast of India.

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Source: Diversity of halophilic mycoflora habitat in saltpans of Tuticorin and Marakkanam along southeast coast of India