Extremophilic and extremotolerant fungi

There are few places on Earth that are truly aseptic. Even environments that we may consider ‘extreme’, such as glaciers, deserts, or hypersaline bodies of water (Figure 1), can harbour life. The organisms that thrive in such environments — mostly microbes — are often referred to as ‘extremophiles’....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current biology 2023-07, Vol.33 (14), p.R752-R756
Main Authors: Gostinčar, Cene, Stajich, Jason E., Gunde-Cimerman, Nina
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:There are few places on Earth that are truly aseptic. Even environments that we may consider ‘extreme’, such as glaciers, deserts, or hypersaline bodies of water (Figure 1), can harbour life. The organisms that thrive in such environments — mostly microbes — are often referred to as ‘extremophiles’. However, what constitutes extreme is in the eye of the beholder. Extremophilic organisms are so adapted to their environment that they perceive extreme conditions as optimal for their growth and can sometimes even be stressed by what we perceive as moderate. Stress is therefore not an optimal criterion for defining what is extreme. Instead, extreme conditions can be seen as those in which the majority of species cannot grow or even survive. Gunde-Cimerman and colleagues discuss the diverse array of fungi that thrive in extreme environments, and highlight some of the ways these fascinating organisms adapt.
ISSN:0960-9822
1879-0445
DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.011