Abstract
Halophilic fungi have evolved unique osmoadaptive strategies, enabling them to thrive in hypersaline habitats. Here, we conduct morphological and transcriptomic response of endophytic fungus (Aspergillus montevidensis ZYD4) in both the presence and absence of salt stress. Under salt stress, the colony morphology of the A. montevidensis ZYD4 changed drastically and exhibited decreased colony pigmentation. Extensive conidiophores development was observed under salt stress; conidiophores rarely developed in the absence of salt stress. Under salt stress, yellow cleistothecium formation was inhibited, while glycerol and compatible sugars continued to accumulate. Among differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs), 733 of them were up-regulated while 1,619 unigenes were down-regulated. We discovered that genes involved in the accumulation of glycerol, the storage of compatible sugars, organic acids, pigment production, and asexual sporulation were differentially regulated under salt stress. These results provide further understanding of the molecular basis of osmoadaptive mechanisms of halophilic endophytic fungi.
Highlights
Extremophilic microorganisms survive, but can grow optimally under rough conditions which are considered harsh and inhospitable for other life forms as well (Mesbah and Wiegel, 2012)
The endophytic strain ZYD4, was isolated using yeast extract-peptone-dextrose (YPD) agar (Difco) from the stems of Medicago sativa L. which were surface sterilized by following the protocols of Li et al (2009) and Salam et al (2017)
In NJ tree (Figure 1) strain ZYD4 was grouped with A. montevidensis
Summary
Extremophilic microorganisms survive, but can grow optimally under rough conditions which are considered harsh and inhospitable for other life forms as well (Mesbah and Wiegel, 2012). Hypersaline environment is one of the examples of such extreme environments (Wood, 2015). High salinity represents high-osmotic stress, which triggers cytoplasm shrinkage and causes lethal damage to salt-sensitive microbes (Koch, 1984; Morris et al, 1986). Some microbes learn to cope with these high salt concentrations by developing special strategies (Oren, 2002). Bacteria are considered to be the only populated microorganisms (Gunde-Cimerman et al, 2009); the report by Gunde-Cimermana et al (2000) show the presence of fungi in saline environments.
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