Isolation of Halotolerant Fungi from Mangrove Sediments of the Arabian Gulf.

There is an industrial need for biomass degrading enzymes which are active under a wider range of physiologic conditions (pH, salt concentration, temperature) for biofuel production.  Many natural ecosystems efficiently degrade cellulosic biomass and harbor enzymes that, when identified, could be used to increase the efficiency of commercial biomass deconstruction.  High activity and abundance of microbial and fungal populations are typically associated with plant roots because of local carbon inputs (falling litter), root exudates and root decay.  Because of this, we suspect mangrove root sediments in Abu Dhabi to contain microbes and fungi with biomass degrading enzymes.  The mangrove sediments in Abu are characterized by high temperatures and salinities which resulted in the entire forest to be composed of a single monoculture of grey mangrove (Avicennia marina).  This phenomenon leads us to suspect that the fungal and microbial populations might exhibit unique qualities and enzymes that enable them to tolerate the harsh conditions of the mangrove sediments.  The objective of this study is to isolate halofungi from mangrove sediments in Abu Dhabi for the pourpose of screening them for cellulose degrading activity.  A total of 10 unknown fungi were isolated to purity using a variation of culture conditions.  The fungal isolates were identified using genomic sequencing of ITS regions, but a number of them did not match any sequencces availabe on the NCBI database and/or matched sequences from uncultured clones. This suggests that the unknown isoaltes from this study may have been cultured in a synthetic medium for the first time.