title: Exploration of cultivable fungal communities in deep coal-bearing sediments from ∼1.3 to 2.5 km below the ocean floor.
abstract: Although subseafloor sediments are known to harbour a vast number of microbial cells, the distribution, diversity, and origins of fungal populations remain largely unexplored. In this study, we cultivated fungi from 34 of 47 deep coal-associated sediment samples collected at depths ranging from 1289 to 2457 m below the seafloor (mbsf) off the Shimokita Peninsula, Japan (1118 m water depth). We obtained a total of 69 fungal isolates under strict contamination controls, representing 61 Ascomycota (14 genera, 23 species) and 8 Basidiomycota (4 genera, 4 species). Penicillium and Aspergillus relatives were the most dominant genera within the Ascomycetes, followed by the members of genera Cladosporium, Hamigera, Chaetomium, Eutypella, Acremonium, Aureobasidium, Candida, Eurotium, Exophiala, Nigrospora, Bionectria and Pseudocercosporella. Four Basidiomycota species were identified as genera Schizophyllum, Irpex, Bjerkandera and Termitomyces. Among these isolates, Cladosporium sphaerospermum and Aspergillus sydowii relatives were isolated from a thin lignite coal-sandstone formation at 2457 mbsf. Our results indicate that these cultivable fungal populations are indigenous, originating from past terrigenous environments, which have persisted, possibly as spores, through ∼20 million years of depositional history.
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Tian-Ning
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Rong
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: State Key of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Tan-Xi
authors.initials: TX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, Zürich, CH-8092, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lever
authors.affiliation: MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, D-28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai-Uwe
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
authors.affiliation: Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi, 783-8502, Japan.|Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, 236-0061, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Inagaki
mesh_terms: D003031:Coal / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D003031:Coal