Black yeasts in hypersaline conditions

Gostinčar, Cene (author), Gunde-Cimerman, Nina (author)

Extremotolerant and extremophilic fungi are an important part of microbial communities that thrive in extreme environments. Among them, the black yeasts are particularly adaptable. They use their melanized cell walls and versatile morphology, as well as a complex set of molecular adaptations, to survive in conditions that are lethal to most other species. In contrast to extremophilic bacteria and archaea, these fungi are typically extremotolerant rather than extremophilic and exhibit an unusually wide ecological amplitude. Some extremely halotolerant black yeasts can grow in near-saturated NaCl solutions, but can also grow on normal mycological media. They adapt to the low water activity caused by high salt concentrations by sensing their environment, balancing osmotic pressure by accumulating compatible solutes, removing toxic salt ions from the cell using membrane transporters, altering membrane composition and remodelling the highly melanized cell wall. As protection against extreme conditions, halotolerant black yeasts also develop different morphologies, from yeast-like to meristematic. Genomic studies of black yeasts have revealed a variety of reproductive strategies, from clonality to intense recombination and the formation of stable hybrids. Although a comprehensive understanding of the ecological role and molecular adaptations of halotolerant black yeasts remains elusive and the application of many experimental methods is challenging due to their slow growth and recalcitrant cell walls, much progress has been made in deciphering their halotolerance. Advances in molecular tools and genomics are once again accelerating the research of black yeasts, promising further insights into their survival strategies and the molecular basis of their adaptations.

• Language: English
• Keywords: extremophiles, halotolerance, black yeast, adaptation
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 10 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 108, iss. 1, art. 252
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-156148
• UDC: 579
• ISSN on article: 0175-7598
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-024-13052-2
• COBISS.SI-ID: 188114435
• Publication date in RUL: 10.05.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Applied microbiology and biotechnology
• Shortened title: Appl. microbiol. biotechnol.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 0175-7598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5136135

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: ekstremofili, halotoleranca, črna kvasovka, prilagoditev