Functional metabolic quotients of cellulolytic filamentous fungi based on in vitro substrate utilization patterns

A considerable number of fungi have been described as having the power to attack cellulose, and several studies on the in vitro dynamic of cellulose degradation by filamentous fungi have been published, but little is known about the functional diversity of fungal communities colonizing pure cellulose under natural conditions in Mediterranean ecosystems. The aim of this study was to characterize the functional potential, defined by substrate utilisation, of culturable saprotrophic fungal taxa that colonise pure cellulose in a maquis coastal environment. Filter paper layers of pure cellulose (Whatman filter paper CHR1, cotton linter) were overlapped and positioned in terylene square net bags to obtain "field traps" for sampling cellulolytic litter fungi. The study was carried out in the Natural Reserve of Castel Volturno, a flat coastal area in southern Italy. Seven taxa showed a high isolation frequency, but with significant differences between different field sites. The identification of the strains was confirmed by sequencing the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions of the rDNA, and Biologtm FF microplates were used to determine functional redundancy and niche overlap in species that co-occured on cellulose during its early colonization and represented the fungal community in the first phase of cellulose colonization.