First find of Cadophora antarctica Rodr.-Andrade, Stchigel, Mac Cormack & Cano in the Arctic

Abstract

Cadophora antarctica Rodr.-Andrade, Stchigel, Mac Cormack & Cano was isolated from spoil tip of coal mine in the Arctic, on the territory of the Svalbard archipelago, and is represented by strain IVA-206. Macro- and micromorphology of the isolate were examined along with partial sequences of Internal transcribed spacer rDNA region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and D1/D2 region of 28S rDNA (LSU). The isolate C. antarctica IVA-206 had a number of features that distinguished it from the strain C. antarctica CBS 143035 from Antarctica. Colonies of Arctic strain had darker pigmentation, ramoconidia and conidia were larger, and the optimal growth temperature was higher. As a result of our study, we first discovered the microfungi C. antarctica Rodr.-Andrade, Stchigel, Mac Cormack & Cano in the Arctic. Our study shows that C. antarctica Rodr.-Andrade, Stchigel, Mac Cormack & Cano is a bipolar species found in both the Arctic and Antarctic region.