ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e155798

Fungal Frontiers in Toxic Terrain: Revealing Culturable Fungal Communities in Taiwan’s Serpentine Paddy Fields

Kai-Wen Cheng^‡, Jiue-in Yang^§, Piroonporn Srimongkol^|, Marc Stadler^¶#, Aphichart Karnchanatat^¤, Hiran Anjana Ariyawansa^«

‡ Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Taipei City, Taiwan§ Department of Nematology, University of California, Riverside, USA, California, United States of America| The Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand¶ Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany# Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany¤ Center of Excellence in Bioconversion and Bioseparation for Platform Chemical Production, The Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand« National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Corresponding author: Hiran Ariyawansa ( ariyawansa44@ntu.edu.tw )

This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation:

Abstract

Serpentine soils are predominantly distributed along the Circum-Pacific margin and the Mediterranean, including eastern Taiwan. These soils are characterized by high levels of heavy metals, including nickel and chromium, and a low calcium-to-magnesium ratio, creating a unique environment that fosters microorganisms with specialized traits. In this study, culture-dependent isolation methods were used to elucidate the composition of culturable fungal communities in serpentine-characterized paddy fields in eastern Taiwan. A total of 154 fungal strains were isolated from serpentine paddy fields in eastern Taiwan. These strains were grouped into 79 morphotypes based on colony morphology and subsequently evaluated through morphological and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses. The results revealed that 60% of the strains belong to class Dothideomycetes, followed by 21% in Sordariomycetes and 19% in Eurotiomycetes. At the genus level, Westerdykella was the dominant genus, accounting for 35% of the total isolated strains, followed by Pyrenochaetopsis (20%), Talaromyces (19%), and Pseudorhypophila (8%). The study reports 11 novel species: Dimorphiseta formosana sp. nov., D. serpentinicola sp. nov., Parasarocladium formosum sp. nov., Phialoparvum formosanum sp. nov., Poaceascoma serpentinum sp. nov., Pseudorhypophila formosana sp. nov., Reticulascus formosana sp. nov., Sarocladium formosum sp. nov., S. serpentinicola sp. nov., Talaromyces taiwanensis sp. nov., and Westerdykella formosana sp. nov. Additionally, 11 species are reported for the first time in Taiwan: Pseudothielavia terricola, Pseudoxylomyces aquaticus, Pyrenochaetopsis oryzicola, Py. paucisetosa, Setophaeosphaeria microspora, Talaromyces adpressus, T. thailandensis, Westerdykella aquatica, W. capitulum, W. dispersa, and W. globosa. In addition, this study presents the first documented asexual morph within the genus Poaceascoma, represented by P. serpentinum. These discoveries will be valuable for future evaluations of the potential uses and functions of these species as bioremediation agents.

Keywords

Heavy metal, 11-new species, phylogeny, serpentine soil, taxonomy