Abstract
We characterized the fungal community found in the winter seasonal snow of the Antarctic Peninsula. From the samples of snow, 234 fungal isolates were obtained and could be assigned to 51 taxa of 26 genera. Eleven yeast species displayed the highest densities; among them, Phenoliferia glacialis showed a broad distribution and was detected at all sites that were sampled. Fungi known to be opportunistic in humans were subjected to antifungal minimal inhibition concentration. Debaryomyces hansenii, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium sp. 3, and Penicillium sp. 4 displayed resistance against the antifungals benomyl and fluconazole. Among them, R. mucilaginosa isolates were able to grow at 37 °C. Our results show that the winter seasonal snow of the Antarctic Peninsula contains a diverse fungal community dominated by cosmopolitan ubiquitous fungal species previously found in tropical, temperate, and polar ecosystems. The high densities of these cosmopolitan fungi suggest that they could be present in the air that arrives at the Antarctic Peninsula by air masses from outside Antarctica. Additionally, we detected environmental fungal isolates that were resistant to agricultural and clinical antifungals and able to grow at 37 °C. Further studies will be needed to characterize the virulence potential of these fungi in humans and animals.
Highlights
Antarctica is composed of special ecosystems that allow for the study of the taxonomy and ecology of resident life forms under extreme conditions [1]
Seasonal snow samples were collected in six different regions of the Antarctic Peninsula and in the South Shetland Islands between November and December 2015 (Table S1; Figure S1)
Twenty-two taxa showed low molecular similarities or inconclusive taxonomic definitions when compared with the sequences of known fungi deposited in the GenBank database
Summary
Antarctica is composed of special ecosystems that allow for the study of the taxonomy and ecology of resident life forms under extreme conditions [1]. Most studies on fungi in Antarctica have focused on fungi living in terrestrial and marine environments, such as lakes [2,3], soils [4,5], historic woods [6], plants [7,8], and macroalgae [9,10]. In these Antarctic habitats, fungi are represented mostly by the taxa of the phyla. Snow represents an important component of the cryosphere and occupies about 35% of the Earth’s surface during the Northern Hemisphere winter [14], covering over 99% of the 13.8 million km of the Antarctic continent
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