Fungi in Cryosphere: Their Adaptation to Environments
Tamotsu Hoshino, Nan Xiao, Yuka Yajima and Oleg B. Tkachenko
from: Cold-Adapted Microorganisms (Edited by: Isao Yumoto). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2013)
Abstract
Cold-adapted fungi are widely distributed in the cryopsphere where biosphere is constantly or seasonally covered with snow and/or ice. Fungi normally have different cells in their lifecycle; therefore, thermal dependence of fungal lifecycle stages is completely different from that of bacteria. We showed examples from fungi that the concept of "psychrophile" by Moria in 1975 was not applicable and propose a new term "cryophilic fungi" for those that spend a certain life stage or whole life cycle (sexual and/or asexual reproductions) in cryosphere. Several groups of fungi associated with snow and/or ice, i.e., cryophilc fungi, are illustrated in terms of their ecology, and their ecophysiological adaptation mechanisms to freezing stress are reviewed, here read more ...
