Salt Tolerance of Fungi and Prospects for Mycodiagnostics of Contamination in Saline Soils

The review is devoted to the analysis of the characteristics of salt-tolerant fungi in order to identify the possibility of their use for indicating chemical contamination of highly mineralized soils and the search for potential test species for laboratory mycotesting. A list of representatives of halophilic and halotolerant genera of micromycetes is given, which can serve as indicators of pollution by heavy metals, oil products and other toxicants against the background of increased mineralization of soil substrates. For biotesting of soils with an average level of mineralization, micromycetes belonging to moderate halotolerant species are proposed as promising. The morphological, physiological and molecular mechanisms of adaptation of halophilic and halotolerant fungi to conditions of increased salinity of habitats are analyzed. The effects on fungal communities, which are caused by a combination of salinity with chemical pollution of different nature, are considered. Methodological aspects of the practical use of salt-tolerant fungi for biodiagnostics of the degree of unfavourability of saline soils are considered: the composition of media, cultivation conditions, and test reactions of fungal cultures that are optimal for an adequate assessment of the degree of halotolerance of fungi and ecotoxicity of soil samples.