High-Temperature-Tolerant Fungus and Oomycetes in Korea, Including Saksenaea longicolla sp. nov.

Abstract

Global temperatures are steadily increasing, leading to significant changes in microbial diversity and ecology. In the present study, we isolated high-temperature-growing fungi and fungi-like group (Oomycota) strains from freshwater environments of Korea and identified them based on cultural, morphological, and multilocus phylogenetic analyses. As a result, we introduce Saksenaea (Fungi) isolates as a new species, Saksenaea longicolla sp. nov. and record Phytophthora chlamydospora and P. lagoariana (Oomycota) new to Korea. In the growth experiments, they exhibited high-temperature tolerance, which can grow at 35–40 °C but become inactive at 4 °C and below. This study confirms the presence of high-temperature-tolerant fungi and oomycetes in Korea and suggests that the Korean climate conditions are changing in favor of these species. This indicates that climate warming is altering microbial distributions in freshwater environments.