Osmotolerance as a determinant of microbial ecology: A study of phylogenetically diverse fungi

Publication date: Available online 16 September 2019Source: Fungal BiologyAuthor(s): Claudinéia A.S. Araújo, Paulo C. Ferreira, Breno Pupin, Luciana P. Dias, Javier Avalos, Jessica Edwards, John E. Hallsworth, Drauzio E.N. RangelAbstractOsmotic stress induced by high solute concentration can prevent fungal metabolism and growth due to alterations in properties of the cytosol, changes in turgor, and the energy required to synthesize and retain compatible solutes. We used germination to quantify tolerance/sensitivity to the osmolyte KCl (0.1 to 4.5 M, in 0.1 M increments) for 70 strains (40 species) of ecologically diverse fungi. These include 11 saprotrophic species (18 strains, including two xerophilic species), 4 mycoparasitic species, 6 plant-pathogenic species (12 strains), and 19 entomopathogenic species (36 strains). A dendrogram obtained from cluster analyses, based on KCl inhibitory concentrations 50% and 90% calculated by Probit Analysis, revealed three groups of fungal isolates accordingly to their osmotolerance. The most osmotolerant group (Group 3) contained the majority of saprotrophic fungi, and Aspergillus niger (F19) was the most tolerant. The highly xerophilic Aspergillus montevidense and Aspergillus pseudoglaucus were the second and third most tolerant species, respectively. All Aspergillus and Cladosporium species belonged to Group 3, followed by the entomopathogens Colletotrichum fioriniae, Simplicillium lanosoniveum, and Trichothecium roseum. Group 2 exh...
Source: Fungal Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research