A psychrophilic and halotolerant strain of Thelebolus microsporus from Pangong Lake, Himalaya

Abstract

Over recent decades, the Ladhak regions of the Himalaya have been investigated mainly for the presence and exploitation of psychrophilic bacteria and Archaea, but mycological studies in the region have been infrequent. Here we report the occurrence of Thelebolus microsporus for the first time from the Himalayan region. The strain, which was isolated from Pangong Lake, is a psychrophile, with an optimum growth temperature of 4°C and halotolerance of up to 6% NaCl. Microscopic studies found that the strain does not produce conidia, and that asci are produced in cleistohymenial ascomata, with each ascus containing eight ascospores. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal RNA gene of the strain showed 97–98% similarity with strains of Thelebolus microsporus from Antarctica.