Fungal diversity is not determined by mineral and chemical differences in serpentine substrates.

ABSTRACT: The physico-chemical properties of serpentine soils lead to strong selection of plant species. Whereas many studies have described the serpentine flora, little information is available on the fungal communities dwelling in these sites. Asbestos minerals, often associated with serpentine rocks, can be weathered by serpentine-isolated fungi, suggesting an adaptation to this substrate. In this study, we have investigated whether serpentine substrates characterized by the presence of rocks with distinct mineral composition could select for different fungal communities. Both fungal isolation and 454 pyrosequencing of amplicons obtained from serpentine samples following direct DNA extraction revealed some fungal taxa shared by the four ophiolitic substrates, but also highlighted several substrat

SUBMITTER: Daghino S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3447857 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature