Abstract
The first report, to our knowledge, on the occurrence of filamentous fungi in the hypersaline (340 g salt 1-1) Dead Sea is presented. Three species of filamentous fungi from surface water samples of the Dead Sea were isolated: Gymnascella marismortui (Ascomycota), which is described as a new species, Ulocladium chlamydosporum and Penicillium westlingii (Deuteromycota). G. marismortui and U. chlamydosporum grew on media containing up to 50% Dead Sea water. G. marismortui was found to be an obligate halophile growing optimally in the presence of 0.5-2 M NaC1 or 10-30% (by volume) of Dead Sea water. Isolated cultures did not grow on agar media without salt, but grew on agar prepared with up to 50% Dead Sea water. This suggests that they may be adapted to life in the extremely stressful hypersaline Dead Sea.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1461-1465 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Volume | 265 |
Issue number | 1404 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 7 Aug 1998 |
Keywords
- Dead Sea
- Fungi
- Obligate halophile
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Environmental Science
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences