Aquatic fungi from the submerged mud of Aswan High Dam Lake

Diversity and enzymatic profiling of halotolerant micromycetes from Sebkha El Melah, a Saharan salt flat in southern Tunisia

Twenty-one moderately halotolerant fungi have been isolated from sample ashes collected from Sebkha El Melah, a Saharan salt flat located in southern Tunisia. Based on morphology and sequence inference from the internal transcribed spacer regions, 28S rRNA gene and other specific genes such as β-tubulin, actin, calmodulin, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, the isolates were found to be distributed over 15 taxa belonging to 6 genera of Ascomycetes: Cladosporium (n = 3), Alternaria (n = 4), Aspergillus (n = 3), Penicillium (n = 5), Ulocladium (n = 2), and Engyodontium (n = 2). Their tolerance to different concentrations of salt in solid and liquid media was examined. Excepting Cladosporium cladosporioides JA18, all isolates were considered as alkali-halotolerant since they were able to grow in media containing 10% of salt with an initial pH 10. All isolates were resistant to oxidative stresses and low temperature whereas 5 strains belonging to Alternaria, Ulocladium, and Aspergillus genera were able to grow at 45°C. The screening of fungal strains for sets of enzyme production, namely, cellulase (CMCase), amylase, protease, lipase, and laccase, in presence of 10% NaCl, showed a variety of extracellular hydrolytic and oxidative profiles. Protease was the most abundant enzyme produced whereas laccase producers were members of the genus Cladosporium.

The history, fungal biodiversity, conservation, and future perspectives for mycology in Egypt

Records of Egyptian fungi, including lichenized fungi, are scattered through a wide array of journals, books, and dissertations, but preliminary annotated checklists and compilations are not all readily available. This review documents the known available sources and compiles data for more than 197 years of Egyptian mycology. Species richness is analysed numerically with respect to the systematic position and ecology. Values of relative species richness of different systematic and ecological groups in Egypt compared to values of the same groups worldwide, show that our knowledge of Egyptian fungi is fragmentary, especially for certain systematic and ecological groups such as Agaricales, Glomeromycota, and lichenized, nematode-trapping, entomopathogenic, marine, aquatic and coprophilous fungi, and also yeasts. Certain groups have never been studied in Egypt, such as Trichomycetes and black yeasts. By screening available sources of information, it was possible to delineate 2281 taxa belonging to 755 genera of fungi, including 57 myxomycete species as known from Egypt. Only 105 taxa new to science have been described from Egypt, one belonging to Chytridiomycota, 47 to Ascomycota, 55 to anamorphic fungi and one to Basidiomycota.