Marine and Antarctic Mycology: diversity and environmental application

Abstract

Extreme environments such as the Antarctic (marine and terrestrial) and the marine tropical ecosystems are reservoir of microbial diversity. However, little is known of the microbial diversity and genetic resources that inhabit these environments. Microbial communities in marine environments are ecologically relevant and play an important role in nutrient regeneration cycles. The adaptability of marine-derived fungi to oceanic conditions is a point of interest in the field of marine biotechnology. Marine conditions (e.g., salinity, pressure, temperature, and light) contribute to the differences between biomolecules produced by these microorganisms and by their terrestrial counterparts. In this context, we will focus on the: i) to improve the knowledge of the diversity of marine fungi from the Brazilian coast and marine and terrestrial fungi from Antarctica using culture-dependent and independent methods. The isolates will be identified by using polyphasic approach, including conventional and molecular techniques and other recent techniques applied to the microbial taxonomy (chemodiversity and proteomic); and ii) to continue the previous studies (supported by Fapesp) related to the exploration, characterization and application of enzymes from environmental interest produced by the fungi from tropical (Brazil) and polar (Antarctica) regions. We also intend to study the differences (kinetics and structural parameters) between marine and terrestrial enzymes and between enzymes from tropical and polar regions. The conduction of this project can result in the generation of knowledge of fungi that inhabit marine tropical and marine and terrestrial polar environments, as well as in the description of new fungal species, creating stronger bonds between our research group and international specialists that have been working on the field of fungal taxonomy/ecology. Additionally, we intend to advance in the studies related to the application of these genetic resources (and their enzymes) in face of detoxification, degradation and discoloration of environmental pollutants. (AU)