Sink or swim: Updated knowledge on marine fungi associated with wood substrates in the Mediterranean Sea and hints about their potential to remediate hydrocarbons

Abstract

This paper provides the first update in more than twenty years on the available knowledge about lignicolous marine fungi in the Mediterranean Sea. Fungi found on collected wood samples were analyzed using a combination of morphological and molecular techniques. Almost 90% of the samples were colonized by fungi. The total number of recorded taxa, which amounted to 57 in the late 1990s, has now risen to 93. Wood-inhabiting marine fungi are good producers of ligninolytic enzymes, which can degrade several aromatic and recalcitrant environmental pollutants. In light of bioremediation technologies, this study also evaluated the potential of the isolated strains to remediate complex hydrocarbon substrates. Seventeen isolates were shown to be able to grow on hydrocarbon media as a sole carbon source; enhanced performances were achieved in the presence of NaCl, suggesting that these fungi adapt well to marine conditions and confirming that salt can trigger specific metabolic pathways in marine fungi.