Species composition of micromycetes at the Progress, Vechernyaya Gora, and Novolazorevskaya stations (East Antarctica)

The survival of fungi in Antarctica is a consequence of both ecological selection and evolutionary adaptation expressed at the physiological, metabolic, structural, and genetic levels. The study of the biological diversity of Antarctic micromycetes will help us to better understand the pathways of fungal dispersal in the biosphere, as well as to broaden our understanding of their role in extreme ecosystems. In addition, micromycetes of extreme habitats are the promising objects of biotechnology.

The purpose of the work is to study the biological diversity of microscopic fungi on natural and anthropogenically introduced substrates in the East Antartica research areas of Progress, Novolazarevskaya, and Mount Vechernyaya stations.

Traditional isolation methods were used to isolate micromycetes in culture. To determine the species composition, microbiological and molecular genetic methods were used. As a result of mycological analysis, 46 species of micromycetes from 22 genera and 3 phylum were identified. The taxonomic analysis was made and the dominant genera of micromycetes were identified: Thelebolus, Penicillium, Acremonium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Geomyces, Cadophora, Rhodotorula, Cryptococcus. The temperature-dependent growth features of micromycetes were analyzed: most of the isolated species were psychrotrophic. The greatest species diversity of micromycetes was noted in soils with plant and animal inclusions, the smallest – on stony substrates.

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