Keratinophilic fungi: Specialized fungal communities in a desert ecosystem identified using cultured-based and Illumina sequencing approaches
Abstract
Soil fungi in desert ecosystems are adapted to harsh environmental conditions such as high soil surface temperatures and limited organic matter and water. Given limited carbon inputs from plant material, heterotrophic fungi likely use unconventional sources of carbon in these systems. A baiting method was used to culture keratinophilic fungi from biocrust and rhizosphere soils in an arid grassland in Utah, USA. Fungi were baited using llama and sheep wool, horsehair, and snakeskin on two media, and pure cultures were identified using ITS and LSU rRNA sequences. One hundred-eighteen fungal colonies were grown, representing a total of 32 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) at 97 % similarity. Cultures were dominated by the phylum Ascomycota (88 %) followed by Mucoromycota (8.6 %) and Basidiomycota (3.4 %). The orders Pleosporales, Eurotiales, Hypocreales, and Sordariales were commonly isolated, with the dominant taxa Alternaria (27 %), Aspergillus (22 %), Fusarium (11 %), and Chaetomium (8%). Thirty percent of the fungi isolated have the capacity to degrade keratin in vitro using a keratin azure assay, with Penicillium showing the highest degradation followed by Geomyces, Alternaria, and Fusarium. Although keratin degraders can be infectious, dermatophytes associated with skin infections were not isolated in culture or detected inmore »
- Authors:
-
[3];
- Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, IL (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC). Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23); USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1635517
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1778409
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-20-21714
Journal ID: ISSN 0944-5013
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Microbiological Research
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 239; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0944-5013
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Hamm, Paris S., Mueller, Rebecca C., Kuske, Cheryl R., and Porras-Alfaro, Andrea. Keratinophilic fungi: Specialized fungal communities in a desert ecosystem identified using cultured-based and Illumina sequencing approaches. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.micres.2020.126530.
Hamm, Paris S., Mueller, Rebecca C., Kuske, Cheryl R., & Porras-Alfaro, Andrea. Keratinophilic fungi: Specialized fungal communities in a desert ecosystem identified using cultured-based and Illumina sequencing approaches. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2020.126530
Hamm, Paris S., Mueller, Rebecca C., Kuske, Cheryl R., and Porras-Alfaro, Andrea. Sat .
"Keratinophilic fungi: Specialized fungal communities in a desert ecosystem identified using cultured-based and Illumina sequencing approaches". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2020.126530. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1635517.
@article{osti_1635517,
title = {Keratinophilic fungi: Specialized fungal communities in a desert ecosystem identified using cultured-based and Illumina sequencing approaches},
author = {Hamm, Paris S. and Mueller, Rebecca C. and Kuske, Cheryl R. and Porras-Alfaro, Andrea},
abstractNote = {Soil fungi in desert ecosystems are adapted to harsh environmental conditions such as high soil surface temperatures and limited organic matter and water. Given limited carbon inputs from plant material, heterotrophic fungi likely use unconventional sources of carbon in these systems. A baiting method was used to culture keratinophilic fungi from biocrust and rhizosphere soils in an arid grassland in Utah, USA. Fungi were baited using llama and sheep wool, horsehair, and snakeskin on two media, and pure cultures were identified using ITS and LSU rRNA sequences. One hundred-eighteen fungal colonies were grown, representing a total of 32 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) at 97 % similarity. Cultures were dominated by the phylum Ascomycota (88 %) followed by Mucoromycota (8.6 %) and Basidiomycota (3.4 %). The orders Pleosporales, Eurotiales, Hypocreales, and Sordariales were commonly isolated, with the dominant taxa Alternaria (27 %), Aspergillus (22 %), Fusarium (11 %), and Chaetomium (8%). Thirty percent of the fungi isolated have the capacity to degrade keratin in vitro using a keratin azure assay, with Penicillium showing the highest degradation followed by Geomyces, Alternaria, and Fusarium. Although keratin degraders can be infectious, dermatophytes associated with skin infections were not isolated in culture or detected in Illumina sequencing. Illumina sequencing was used to determine general patterns in seasonal variation and habitat preference of keratinophiles. Alternaria was the most abundant genus with >70 % of the sequences. The combination of Illumina data with culture-dependent approaches facilitated the characterization of a specialized community and confirmed the low abundance of dermatophytes in this arid site.},
doi = {10.1016/j.micres.2020.126530},
journal = {Microbiological Research},
number = C,
volume = 239,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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