30 ott. 2018 - Andreas Bruder

Ecology of aquatic hyphomycetes and the role of biodiversity

Presenta: Andreas Bruder

Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)

Aquatic hyphomycetes (or Ingoldian fungi) represent a group of microscopic fungi in well-oxygenated streams, mainly headwaters. As almost exclusive saprotrophs, principal ecological roles of aquatic hyphomycetes center on the decomposition of allochthonous plant litter, mainly leaves.
In this seminar, Andreas Bruder will take the opportunity to highlight the role of aquatic hyphomycetes in stream ecosystems. He will present and discuss examples of the role of biodiversity for the activity of aquatic hyphomycetes. These examples are drawn from recent field- and laboratory experiments. Due to the importance of the linked processes, he will also provide examples on the influence of leaf litter diversity on fungal activity. Some studies suggest that not only interspecific but also intraspecific diversity may influence aquatic hyphomycete sensitivity to environmental stressors and their performance when decomposing leaf litter. Detailed studies addressing this question require quantification of intraspecific diversity, which, however, is challenging at best with established approaches in fungal taxonomy. The final part of theseminar will be dedicated to a novel proteomic approach that we have been developing based on MALDI TOF mass spectrometry and which is addressing this challenge. Due to the broad range of ribosomal proteins analyzed simultaneously, this technique provides vast genomic information. It thus lends itself for detailed characterization and identification of fungal cultures and for quantification of inter- and intraspecific diversity.

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