Muggia Lucia, Coleine Claudia, De Carolis Roberto, Cometto Agnese, Selbmann Laura
Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell' Università, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.
J Fungi (Basel). 2021 Nov 3;7(11):935. doi: 10.3390/jof7110935.
Microbial endolithic communities are the main and most widespread life forms in the coldest and hyper-arid desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and other ice-free areas across Victoria Land, Antarctica. There, the lichen-dominated communities are complex and self-supporting assemblages of phototrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms, including bacteria, chlorophytes, and both free-living and lichen-forming fungi living at the edge of their physiological adaptability. In particular, among the free-living fungi, microcolonial, melanized, and anamorphic species are highly recurrent, while a few species were sometimes found to be associated with algae. One of these fungi is of paramount importance for its peculiar traits, i.e., a yeast-like habitus, co-growing with algae and being difficult to propagate in pure culture. In the present study, this taxon is herein described as the new genus and its type species is , which represents a transitional group between the free-living and symbiotic lifestyle in . The phylogenetic placement of was studied using three rDNA molecular markers and morphological characters were described. In this study, we also reappraise the evolution and the connections linking the lichen-forming and rock-inhabiting lifestyles in the basal lineages of (i.e., ) and .
微生物内生群落是麦克默多干谷最冷且极度干旱沙漠以及南极洲维多利亚地其他无冰区域中主要且分布最广泛的生命形式。在那里，以地衣为主的群落是光合自养和异养微生物的复杂且自我维持的组合，包括细菌、绿藻以及生活在其生理适应性边缘的自由生活和形成地衣的真菌。特别是在自由生活的真菌中，微菌落、黑化和无性型物种极为常见，而有时会发现一些物种与藻类有关。其中一种真菌因其独特特征至关重要，即具有酵母样形态，与藻类共生且难以在纯培养中繁殖。在本研究中，该分类单元被描述为新属，其模式种为 ，它代表了 中自由生活和共生生活方式之间的过渡群体。使用三种rDNA分子标记研究了 的系统发育位置，并描述了形态特征。在本研究中，我们还重新评估了 在基部谱系（即 ）中形成地衣和栖息于岩石的生活方式之间的进化及联系。
