CNR-ISB al congresso della Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) 2025

Contributo PNRR-NBFC al FEMS-Micro-2025

FEMS MICRO Milan 2025: Congress & Exhibition

Persone da contattare:

• Flavia Pinzari (Cnr – Istituto per i Sistemi Biologici) flavia.pinzari@cnr.it
• Lorenzo Pin (Cnr – Istituto per i Sistemi Biologici) lorenzo.pin@cnr.it

Titolo:

Feverish interactions between fungi, bacteria and rocks … in the dark of a volcanic cellar

Autori:

Lorenzo Pin1, Ilaria Mazzini2, Laura Chelazzi3, Francesca Trapasso2, Emanuela Tempesta2, Luca Bindi4, Sandro Conticelli2,4, Flavia Pinzari1*

1) Cnr-Istituto per i Sistemi Biologici, Montelibretti (Rome), (Italy); 2) Cnr-Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Montelibretti (Rome), (Italy); 3) Università degli Studi di Firenze, Centro di Cristallografia Strutturale, CRIST, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), (Italy); 4) Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Firenze, (Italy); *National Biodiversity Future Center—NBFC

Riassunto:

Volcanic hypogean environments can host peculiar fungal communities that develop separately from the open-air ones. Factors like substrate chemistry, moisture, temperature, and light can help select species and shape communities. A model environment was chosen to study fungal diversity and geomicrobiological activity associated with tuff rocks. It was intended to analyse by culturing and culture-independent methods which fungal species were dominant and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), microanalysis (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) their relationship with the volcanic substrate. The study site was a hypogean cellar near Pitigliano (Central Italy), carved in red tuffs with black scoria of the Sovana ignimbrite, rich in metals and with stable microenvironmental conditions. The cellar is used to produce wine by Sassotondo organic farm. Fungal efflorescences are constantly present on the cellar’s walls and ceiling. Shotgun metagenomic analysis of the fungal and bacterial communities documented the presence of some dominant fungal rhizomorphs formed by species of the genera Piloderma, Fibularhizoctonia and Athelia. Several bacterial species appeared strongly associated with fungal mycelia, particularly from the genus Sphingomonas. SEM revealed abundant biogenic crystals embedded in the fungal biofilm covering the tuff surface, which, according to EDS and XRD observations, consisted of calcium oxalates and sulphates. Despite the presumed environmental uniformity of the hypogeum, a fair amount of variability at the microscale level was observed, with different fungal species dominating slightly distant spots on the walls. Intense interactions between fungi and bacteria emerged, as did mycelia’s ability to leach and translocate mineral components from the substrate.

Visualizzare il poster qui

Riassunto:

Volcanic hypogean environments can host peculiar fungal communities that develop separately from the open-air ones. Factors like substrate chemistry, moisture, temperature, and light can help select species and shape communities. A model environment was chosen to study fungal diversity and geomicrobiological activity associated with tuff rocks. It was intended to analyse by culturing and culture-independent methods which fungal species were dominant and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), microanalysis (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) their relationship with the volcanic substrate. The study site was a hypogean cellar near Pitigliano (Central Italy), carved in red tuffs with black scoria of the Sovana ignimbrite, rich in metals and with stable microenvironmental conditions. The cellar is used to produce wine by Sassotondo organic farm. Fungal efflorescences are constantly present on the cellar’s walls and ceiling. Shotgun metagenomic analysis of the fungal and bacterial communities documented the presence of some dominant fungal rhizomorphs formed by species of the genera Piloderma, Fibularhizoctonia and Athelia. Several bacterial species appeared strongly associated with fungal mycelia, particularly from the genus Sphingomonas. SEM revealed abundant biogenic crystals embedded in the fungal biofilm covering the tuff surface, which, according to EDS and XRD observations, consisted of calcium oxalates and sulphates. Despite the presumed environmental uniformity of the hypogeum, a fair amount of variability at the microscale level was observed, with different fungal species dominating slightly distant spots on the walls. Intense interactions between fungi and bacteria emerged, as did mycelia’s ability to leach and translocate mineral components from the substrate.

• The authors thank the owners of the Sassotondo farm (Pitigliano, Grosseto, Italy) for promoting the microbiological study in their beautiful and biodiversity-rich wine cellar. (https://www.sassotondo.it/en/index.html)
• Gli autori ringraziano i proprietari dell’azienda agricola Sassotondo (Pitigliano, Grosseto, Italia) per aver promosso lo studio microbiologico nella loro splendida cantina ricca di biodiversità. (https://www.sassotondo.it/en/index.html)