Cold-Adapted Fungi: Evaluation and Comparison of Their Habitats, Molecular Adaptations and Industrial Applications

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Survival Strategies in Cold-adapted Microorganisms

Abstract

The versatility displayed by kingdom Fungi in terms of physiological, genomic and metabolic complexities has ensured their presence in all major ecosystems. Given that 85% of the Earth experiences cold temperatures of below 5 °C, either seasonally or permanently, there is no shortage of cold environments resulting in global distribution of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic fungi. The cold-adapted extremophilic fungi possess molecular adaptations to persist and proliferate against harsh conditions exerted on them by their environment such as multiple freeze-thaw cycles, desiccation, low water activity, high exposure to harmful UV radiation or complete absence, high hydrostatic pressure and low nutrient availability. Cold habitats include polar regions such Antarctica and the Arctic as well as non-polar regions such as the deep seas and alpine regions. These regions offer a broad spectrum of niches for colonization of fungi including but not limited to rocks, ice sheets, snow cover, glaciers, cold soils, frozen seas, freshwater ice and permafrost, with varying levels of abundance and diversity.

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Suresh, A.J., Dass, R.S. (2022). Cold-Adapted Fungi: Evaluation and Comparison of Their Habitats, Molecular Adaptations and Industrial Applications. In: Goel, R., Soni, R., Suyal, D.C., Khan, M. (eds) Survival Strategies in Cold-adapted Microorganisms. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2625-8_2

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