Interactions of Fungi and Algae from the Greenland Ice Sheet

TY - JOUR

T1 - Interactions of Fungi and Algae from the Greenland Ice Sheet

AU - Perini, L.

AU - Gostinčar, C.

AU - Likar, M.

AU - Frisvad, J. C.

AU - Kostanjšek, R.

AU - Nicholes, M.

AU - Williamson, C.

AU - Anesio, A. M.

AU - Zalar, P.

AU - Gunde-Cimerman, N.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Heavily pigmented glacier ice algae Ancylonema nordenskiöldii and Ancylonema alaskanum (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) reduce the bare ice albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet, amplifying melt from the largest cryospheric contributor to eustatic sea-level rise. Little information is available about glacier ice algae interactions with other microbial communities within the surface ice environment, including fungi, which may be important for sustaining algal bloom development. To address this substantial knowledge gap and investigate the nature of algal-fungal interactions, an ex situ co-cultivation experiment with two species of fungi, recently isolated from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet (here proposed new species Penicillium anthracinoglaciei Perini, Frisvad and Zalar, Mycobank (MB 835602), and Articulospora sp.), and the mixed microbial community dominated by glacier ice algae was performed. The utilization of the dark pigment purpurogallin carboxylic acid-6-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (C18H18O12) by the two fungi was also evaluated in a separate experiment. P. anthracinoglaciei was capable of utilizing and converting the pigment to purpurogallin carboxylic acid, possibly using the sugar moiety as a nutrient source. Furthermore, after 3 weeks of incubation in the presence of P. anthracinoglaciei, a significantly slower decline in the maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/Fm, inverse proxy of algal stress) in glacier ice algae, compared to other treatments, was evident, suggesting a positive relationship between these species. Articulospora sp. did uptake the glycosylated purpurogallin, but did not seem to be involved in its conversion to aglycone derivative. At the end of the incubation experiments and, in conjunction with increased algal mortality, we detected a substantially increasing presence of the zoosporic fungi Chytridiomycota suggesting an important role for them as decomposers or parasites of glacier ice algae.

AB - Heavily pigmented glacier ice algae Ancylonema nordenskiöldii and Ancylonema alaskanum (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) reduce the bare ice albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet, amplifying melt from the largest cryospheric contributor to eustatic sea-level rise. Little information is available about glacier ice algae interactions with other microbial communities within the surface ice environment, including fungi, which may be important for sustaining algal bloom development. To address this substantial knowledge gap and investigate the nature of algal-fungal interactions, an ex situ co-cultivation experiment with two species of fungi, recently isolated from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet (here proposed new species Penicillium anthracinoglaciei Perini, Frisvad and Zalar, Mycobank (MB 835602), and Articulospora sp.), and the mixed microbial community dominated by glacier ice algae was performed. The utilization of the dark pigment purpurogallin carboxylic acid-6-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (C18H18O12) by the two fungi was also evaluated in a separate experiment. P. anthracinoglaciei was capable of utilizing and converting the pigment to purpurogallin carboxylic acid, possibly using the sugar moiety as a nutrient source. Furthermore, after 3 weeks of incubation in the presence of P. anthracinoglaciei, a significantly slower decline in the maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/Fm, inverse proxy of algal stress) in glacier ice algae, compared to other treatments, was evident, suggesting a positive relationship between these species. Articulospora sp. did uptake the glycosylated purpurogallin, but did not seem to be involved in its conversion to aglycone derivative. At the end of the incubation experiments and, in conjunction with increased algal mortality, we detected a substantially increasing presence of the zoosporic fungi Chytridiomycota suggesting an important role for them as decomposers or parasites of glacier ice algae.

KW - Greenland Ice Sheet

KW - HPLC

KW - Light microscopy

KW - Penicillium anthracinoglaciei

KW - Purpurogallin carboxylic acid

KW - Purpurogallin carboxylic acid-6-O-β-D-glucopyranoside

KW - SEM

KW - Fungi

KW - Ice Cover/microbiology

KW - Benzocycloheptenes

KW - Greenland

KW - Streptophyta

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85130736309

U2 - 10.1007/s00248-022-02033-5

DO - 10.1007/s00248-022-02033-5

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35608637

AN - SCOPUS:85130736309

SN - 0095-3628

VL - 86

SP - 282

EP - 296

JO - Microbial Ecology

JF - Microbial Ecology

IS - 1

ER -