A new marine species of Tamaricicola from the Tyrrhenian Sea
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
conferenceObject
Abstract
Marine environments represent a huge reservoir of biological and biochemical diversity, which is yet mostly unexplored. In this context, several researchers have recently highlighted the
importance of expanding our knowledge about the biodiversity of marine fungi, which is estimated to exceed 12,500 species. Fungi are widely distributed in marine ecosystem, and have een found in all studied ecological niches even in marine extreme environments or in association with living organisms. The unknown fungal species represent a significant gap in our understanding of ecosystem functioning, as well as a vast potential resource that must not be asted, especially in light of global change. During an extensive survey aimed at broadening our knowledge about marine fungal biodiversity in the Tyrrhenian Sea, six strains belonging to a utative novel species of the genus Tamaricicola were isolated from the seagrass Posidonia ceanica and the jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca. This research aimed to characterize these strains with a polyphasic approach based on morphological, physiological, and molecular analyses. In addition, considering the biotechnological values of marine fungi, the potential of the new strains to produce bioactive secondary metabolites was investigated, in particular, considering their anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral activity. Morphological analyses were carried out on different cultural media and culture conditions to induce the development of the reproductive structures. The new strains produced typical globose ascomata with a thick walled peridium, bitunicate cylindrical asci producing muriformis ascospores and a coelomycetous anamorphic phase characterized by conidiophores reduced to phialidic conidiogenous cells producing ellipsoidal, hyaline, 1-celled conidia; muriform chlamydospores were also observed. Multi-locus phylogenetic inference, based on a concatenated dataset of several molecular markers (nrSSU, nrITS, nrLSU, tef-1a, rpb-2), confirmed that these strains represent a new lineage within the currently monospecific genus Tamaricicola, the new species Tamaricicola fenicis sp. nov. is herein proposed. Finally, it is worth noting that the CHCl3 extract of T. fenicis PN38 presented significant antiviral activity against the Echovirus 11 (Enterovirus; 100% inhibition at 50 μg/mL) suggesting that it could have high iotechnological potential for drug discovery. In this context, the strain deserves further studies to better understand its antiviral activity; the investigation is already in course.
Conference(s)
1st International Workshop on “Marine Fungi: Diversity and Applications” - MARIFUNDIVE2025