| Title: | Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Sites: Is There Something More Than Exophiala xenobiotica? New Insights into Black Fungal Diversity Using the Long Cold Incubation Method |
| Author(s): | Isola D; Scano A; Orru G; Prenafeta-Boldu FX; Zucconi L; |
| Address: | "Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy. Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy. Program of Sustainability in Biosystems, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), 08140 Barcelona, Spain" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2309-608X (Electronic) 2309-608X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Human-made hydrocarbon-rich environments are important reservoirs of microorganisms with specific degrading abilities and pathogenic potential. In particular, black fungi are of great interest, but their presence in the environment is frequently underestimated because they are difficult to isolate. In the frame of a biodiversity study from fuel-contaminated sites involving 30 diesel car tanks and 112 fuel pump dispensers (52 diesel and 60 gasoline, respectively), a total of 181 black fungal strains were isolated. The long cold incubation (LCI) of water-suspended samples, followed by plating on Dichloran Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol Agar (DRBC), gave isolation yields up to six times (6.6) higher than those of direct plating on DRBC, and those of enrichment with a phenolic mix. The sequencing of ITS and LSU-rDNA confirmed the dominance of potentially pathogenic fungi from the family Herpotrichiellaceae and Exophiala xenobiotica. Moreover, other opportunistic species were found, including E. opportunistica, E. oligosperma, E. phaeomuriformis, and Rhinocladiella similis. The recurrent presence of E. crusticola, Knufia epidermidis, Aureobasidium melanogenum, Cladosporium spp., and Scolecobasidium spp. was also recorded. Interestingly, 12% of total isolates, corresponding to 50% of taxa found (16/32), represent new species. All the novel taxa in this study were isolated by LCI. These findings suggest that black fungal diversity in hydrocarbon-rich niches remains largely unexplored and that LCI can be an efficient tool for further investigations" |
| Keywords: | Knufia Scolecobasidium black yeasts diesel car tank diesel gasoline fuel pump dispenser extreme environments fuel degraders hydrocarbon bioremediation opportunistic Exophiala species volatile organic compounds (VOCs); |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEIsola, Daniela Scano, Alessandra Orru, Germano Prenafeta-Boldu, Francesc Xavier Zucconi, Laura eng Switzerland 2021/10/24 J Fungi (Basel). 2021 Sep 29; 7(10):817. doi: 10.3390/jof7100817" |
