Zoosporic fungi (sensu stricto and sensu lato) from "Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação Juréia-Itatins", São Paulo State, Brazil: morphological and molecular diversity

Abstract

In this project we propose to study zoosporic fungi (sensu stricto and sensu lato) of the "Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação Juréia-Itatins", an important Atlantic Forest area of the south coast of São Paulo State, which is extremely rich in flora, fauna and microbiota. Although many species of these groups are decomposers, especially in cellulosic, keratinous and chitinous substrates in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, some stand out as important parasites of several organisms. In Brazil, studies with these organisms can be considered scarce front the size of the country and diversity of biomas, probably due to a still limited number of specialists. When the gene sequences of species is considered, the global picture is even more concerning, because with limited number of researchers working with this group, little knowledge is available on the gene banks until now. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the richness and diversity of the zoosporic fungi (sensu stricto and sensu lato) from freshwater bodies and soil of the "Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação Juréia-Itatins" and contribute to phylogenetic studies which have being conducted with this group, through the obtainment, analysis and availability of gene sequences of the ITS, LSU and/or SSU rDNA regions of Brazilian fungal isolates. (AU)