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Fungal ecology

Chaos reigns at low temperatures

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 8, pages 388–389 (2010)Cite this article

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Chaotropic solutes are a diverse group of substances that can disrupt the non-covalent interactions and hydrophobic forces that hold macromolecules together. Conversely, kosmotropic substances promote these interactions and, in doing so, stabilize macromolecules. Chin et al. reasoned that such substances may counteract the effects of extreme temperature and so enhance growth at temperatures that are normally suboptimal. When the authors examined the growth of xerophilic (that is, highly solute-tolerant) fungi in the presence of either a chaotropic or a kosmotropic solute (fructose and sucrose, respectively), they observed that at 30 °C the fungal strains grew equally well on media supplemented with either solute. However, at 1.7 °C significant growth was only observed on media that had been supplemented with the chaotropic solute. This phenomenon is not limited to xerophilic fungi, as the psychrophilic yeast Mrakia frigida grew at −5 °C on chaotrope-supplemented media but not on kosmotrope-supplemented media.

fungi produce chaotropic substances as part of their cold adaptation strategy.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Chin, J. P. et al. Solutes determine the temperature windows for microbial survival and growth. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 7835–7840 (2010)

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  1. Andrew Jermy
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Jermy, A. Chaos reigns at low temperatures. Nat Rev Microbiol 8, 388–389 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2373

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