Publication Date:
2014-08-29
Description:
Biological residues in soil dust are a potentially strong source of atmospheric ice nuclei (IN). So far, however, the abundance, diversity, sources, seasonality, and role of biological – in particular, fungal – IN in soil dust have not been characterized. By analysis of the culturable fungi in topsoils, from a range of different land use and ecosystem types in south-east Wyoming, we found ice nucleation active (INA) fungi to be both widespread and abundant, particularly in soils with recent inputs of decomposable organic matter. Across all investigated soils, 8% of fungal isolates were INA. All INA isolates initiated freezing at −5 to −6 °C, and belonged to a single zygomycotic species, Mortierella alpina (Mortierellales, Mortierellomycotina). By contrast, the handful of fungal species so far reported as INA all belong within the Ascomycota or Basidiomycota phyla. M. alpina is known to be saprobic, widespread in soil and present in air and rain. Sequencing of the ITS region and the gene for γ-linolenic-elongase revealed four distinct clades, affiliated to different soil types. The IN produced by M. alpina seem to be proteinaceous,
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
