Abundance and Diversity of Endolithic Fungal Assemblages in Granite and Sandstone from Victoria Land, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: The Antarctic continent hosts highly specialized microbial ecosystems, particularly within endolithic habitats, where microorganisms colonize the interior of rocks in order to withstand conditions that otherwise cannot support life. Previous studies have characterized the composition and abundance of these communities, as well as their different degrees of stress power; furthermore, the effect of different lithic substrates in shaping their associated bacterial assemblages has been extensively investigated. By contrast, how rock typology exerts fungal endolithic colonization still remains unexplored. In this study, we have considered and compared fungal communities inhabiting granite and sandstone rocks collected across Victoria Land, Antarctica, using high-throughput sequencing of the Int

SUBMITTER: Stoppiello GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12299835 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature