title: Ancient fungi in Antarctic permafrost environments.
abstract: Filamentous fungi in 36 samples of Antarctic permafrost sediments were studied. The samples collected during the Russian Antarctic expedition of 2007-2009 within the framework of the Antarctic Permafrost Age Project (ANTPAGE) were recovered from different depths in ice-free oases located along the perimeter of the continent. Fungal diversity was determined by conventional microbiological techniques combined with a culture-independent method based on the analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) sequences in total DNA of the samples. The study revealed a rather low fungal population density in permafrost, although the diversity found was appreciable, representing more than 26 genera. Comparison of the data obtained by different techniques showed that the culture-independent method enabled the detection of ascomycetous and basidiomycetous fungi not found by culturing. The molecular method failed to detect members of the genera Penicillium and Cladosporium that possess small-sized spores known to have a high resistance to environmental changes.
authors: All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms (VKM), G K Skryabin Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia. gak@dol.ru
authors: Galina
authors: G
authors: Kochkina
authors: Natalya
authors: N
authors: Ivanushkina
authors: Svetlana
authors: S
authors: Ozerskaya
authors: Nadezhda
authors: N
authors: Chigineva
authors: Oleg
authors: O
authors: Vasilenko
authors: Sergey
authors: S
authors: Firsov
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Spirina
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Gilichinsky
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D044822:Biodiversity; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer