Image Credit: Mariana Kluge
Umbelopsis are zygomycetes commonly found in soil as saprobes (Egidi et al., 2019), including the Arctic (Geml et al., 2015). They are known for being oleaginous fungi, capable of intracellular lipid accumulation (Papanikolaou et al., 2019). The isolate P8C34 has been isolated from the sediment of thermokarst ponds in Abisko, Sweden. Thermokarst ponds, which emerge from the thawing permafrost, can be hotspots for microbial production and become an important source of greenhouse gas emissions (Abnizova et al., 2012). However, little is known about the fungal contribution in such water bodies when it comes to carbon degradation. The genome sequencing of fungal isolates from these environments aims to assess their functional potential, and to better understand the fungal contribution in the permafrost carbon feedback.
References:
- Papanikolaou S, Aggelis G. Sources of microbial oils with emphasis to Mortierella (Umbelopsis) isabellina fungus. World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2019 Mar 28;35(4):63. doi:10.1007/s11274-019-2631-z
- Geml J, Morgado LN, Semenova TA, Welker JM, Walker MD, Smets E. Long-term warming alters richness and composition of taxonomic and functional groups of arctic fungi. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2015 Aug;91(8):fiv095. doi:10.1093/femsec/fiv095
- Egidi E, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Plett JM, Wang J, Eldridge DJ, Bardgett RD, Maestre FT, Singh BK. A few Ascomycota taxa dominate soil fungal communities worldwide. Nat Commun. 2019 May 30;10(1):2369. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10373-z
- Abnizova A, Siemens J, Langer M, Boike J. Small ponds with major impact: The relevance of ponds and lakes in permafrost landscapes to carbon dioxide emissions. Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 26, GB2041. doi:10.1029/2011GB004237
