Fungal diversity and function in metagenomes sequenced from extreme environments
Fungi are increasingly recognized as key players in various extreme environments. Here we present an analysis of publicly-sourced metagenomes from global extreme environments, focusing on fungal taxonomy and function. The majority of 855 selected metagenomes contained scaffolds assigned to fungi. Relative abundance of fungi was as high as 10% of protein-coding genes with taxonomic annotation, with up to 289 fungal genera per sample. Despite taxonomic clustering by environment, fungal communities were more dissimilar than archaeal and bacterial communities, both for within- and between-environment comparisons. Relatively abundant fungal classes in extreme environments included Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycetes, Saccharomycetes, and Sordariomycetes. Broad generalists and prolific aerial spore formers were the most relatively abundant fungal genera detected in most of the extreme environments, bringing up the question of whether they are actively growing in those environments or just surviving as spores. More specialized fungi were common in some environments, such as zoosporic taxa in cryosphere water and hot springs. Relative abundances of genes involved in adaptation to general, thermal, oxidative, and osmotic stress were greatest in soda lake, acid mine drainage, and cryosphere water samples.
Authors
- Clifton P. Bueno de Mesquita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2565-7100)
- Danny Haelewaters (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6424-0834)
- Benjamin Young (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5654-2915)
- Dongying Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4167-2212)
- Steven K. Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9175-2085)
- Susannah Green Tringe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6479-8427)
- Arthur C. Grupe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5148-5114)
- C. Alisha Quandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0260-8995)
- Lara Vimercati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8228-7786)
- Thiago Kossmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2858-7838)
- August Danz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1476-2500)
- Natalie M. Hyde
- Mary K. Childress (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4625-3617)
- Charles M. Oliver
- Candice Perrotta
Institutions
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Joint Genome Institute (US)
- Institute of Microbiology (BY)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Sociology (CZ)
- Institute of Entomology (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Microbiology (CZ)
- University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Fungal ecology
- Published
- 2024-08-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2024.101383
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.79
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Joint Genome Institute
- Grantová Agentura České Republiky
- Office of Science