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  Articles and gems - Globetrotting microbes
Transoceanic travelers: pollution, bacteria, fungi and viruses. Fungi in the marine environment finally getting more attention?
 Eugene
Shinn, Dale Griffin and Virginia Garrison (Shinn et al., 1999, 2000) have discovered
that the well known "African dust" is more than dust alone. The reddish dust from time to time covers cars
in Europe and also makes its way over to Florida, where it causes those marvelous sunsets.
The African dust also carries pollution with it - and bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Continued sampling on St. John (Virgin Islands) and analysis at the USGS lab in St. Petersburg, FL,
revealed 157 species of bacteria, 213 viruses and 201 species of fungi in African dust. So said Dale Griffin at the
April 2001 ASM meeting in Orlando.
However, these findings are not new. Chad Marshall (1996, 1997) - then working for the BAS - partly found
similar results for the Atlantic and Antarctic. He carried out aerobiological sampling on Signy Island and
found fungi and yeasts present throughout the year, in seasonally varying numbers. However, compared with other parts of
the world, the concentrations of indigenous spores were much lower. This made it possible to monitor
the transport of spores from South America which sometimes led to remarkably high spore numbers.
Sampling was also conducted on ship transects through the Atlantic. Fungal spores were the most
common type of airborne particle (except on two legs of a north-bound transect, when Saharan dust itself
was ubiquitous). Conidia of Cladosporium spp. dominated most legs. No correlations with meteorological
parameters were found but the vicinity of land was always linked with highest concentrations and diversity.
It is unknown whether any culture attempts were made.
 African
dust from the Sahara and Sahel is not the only traveling dust. Dust from China's Gobi Desert
also reaches the United States. With it comes part of China's air pollution. In 1996, researchers on
Hawaii found soot, As, Cu, Pb, and Zn at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory. From Asia. See this
Asian dust resource at the University
of Washington at St. Louis.
New about the ongoing USGS research is that it links the transatlantic travelers to effects in the local environment.
Researchers
speculate that the traveling microbes are the cause of allergies and Aspergillus infections in humans
and diseases in corals (bleaching), sea urchins and sea fans.
The demise of sea fans in the Caribbean appears to be caused by an Aspergillus species. Disease
outbreaks turned out to be correlated with increased amounts of dust. Garriet Smith of the University of South
Carolina isolated Aspergillus sydowii from the African dust and managed to infect 50 % of
healthy sea fans.
This came as a big surprise. The researchers had not expected Aspergillus species to be able to
manage in the marine environment. However, Bill Fenical and his coworkers of Scripps had already
isolated marine Aspergillus species from a saline lake in the Bahamas (Toske et al., 1998).
On September 9, 2001 Dutch radio reported that Saharan dust storms may also be linked to the recent outbreak of
foot and mouth disease in Europe. A.k.a. hoof and mouth disease (in Dutch: mond- en
klauwzeer or MKZ) in Europe. Apparently, a large dust storm from the
Sahara reached the U.K. on February 13, 2001. A week later, foot and mouth
disease struck and evolved into an epidemic, which also affected other European countries.
Foot and mouth disease did already occur in the dust's source area. Sheer coincidence?
This news provides a different perspective for many international issues. If even
grasshoppers occasionally make it from Africa to the Caribbean…
Internet resources:
Literature references:
-
Bianchi T.S., Pennock, J.R., and Twilly, R.R. (1999)
Biogeochemistry of the Gulf of Mexico estuaries, Hardcover, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
- Fenchel T., King G., and Blackburn T.H. (1998)
Bacterial biogeochemistry, Academic Press.
- Hutchinson L.J. and Barron, G.L. (1997) Parasitism of algae by lignocoulous Basidiomycota and other fungi. Can. J. Bot., 75, 1006-1011.
- Hyde K.D., Greenwood R., and Jones E.B.G. (1993) Spore attachment in marine fungi. Mycol. Res., 97, 7-14.
- Hyde K.D., Jones E.B.G., Leaņo E., Pointing S.B., Poonyth A.D., and Vrijmoed L.L.P. (1998) Role of fungi in marine ecosystems. Biodiversity and Conservation, 7, 1147-1161.
- Jackson, J.B.C. and many coworkers (2001) Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of
coastal ecosystems. Science, 293 (July 27), 629-638.
- Jickells T. and Rae J. (1997)
Biogeochemistry of Intertidal Sediments
Hardcover, CRC Press.
- Kohlmeyer J. and Kohlmeyer E. (1979) Marine Mycology: the higher fungi. Academic Press, London.
- Marshall W.A. (1996) Biological particles over Antarctica. Nature, 383, 680.
- Marshall W.A. (1997) Seasonality in Antarctic airborne fungal spores. Appl. Environm. Microb., 63, 2240-2245.
- Marshall W.A. (1997) Erratum: Seasonality in Antarctic airborne fungal spores. Appl. Environm. Microb., 64, 1167.
- Oren A. (1998)
Biogeochemistry of Intertidal Sediments
Hardcover, CRC Press, Boca Raton. U.S.A..
- Reddy, K.R., (1999)
Phosphorus biogeochemistry in subtropical ecosystems,
Hardcover, CRC Press, Boca Raton, U.S.A.
- Pracejus B. and Halbach P. (1996) Do marine moulds influence Hg and Si precipitation in the hydrothermal JADE field (Okinawa Trough)? Chem. Geol., 130, 87-99.
- Shinn E., Garrison V., Smith G. and Weir J. (1999) Environmental research and speculations from space: the dust problem. GSA Annual Meeting Abstracts, p. A-189.
- Shinn E., Smith G.W., Prospero J.M., Betzer P., Hayes, M.L., Garrison V., Barber R.T. (2000) African dust and the demise of the Caribbean coral reefs. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27(19), 3029-3032.
- Stokstad E. (2001) Fossils with lessons for conservation biology. Science,
293 (July 27), 592-530.
- Souren A.W.M.G. (1998) Comment on ''Oxidation of cobalt and manganese in seawater via a common microbially catalyzed pathway'' by J.W. Moffett and J. Ho. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 62(2), 351-355.
- Toske S.G., Jensen P.R., Kaufmann C.A., and Fenical W. (1998) Aspergillamides A and B: modified cytotoxic tripeptides produced by a marine fungus of the Genus Aspergillus, Tetrahedron, 54, 13459-13466.
- Vermij, P. (June 14, 2001) Out of Africa, Intermediair, 24, W&T1-3.
"That really crushes your soul!" exclaimed Dr. Renos Mouzouras over the phone, just a
few years earlier. I had just quoted a frequently heard
remark: "Surely fungi are pretty rare in the marine environment."
I had contacted Dr. Mouzouras because I was convening a session on 'Fungi and Yeasts in the
Marine Environment' for the 1998 AGU Spring Meeting.
I am sure that Dr. Mouzouras's and many other people's spirits were lifted - like mine were - when
they heard of the recent developments that indicate
that attention for fungi in the marine environment is finally increasing. YES. The USGS (VA) had in fact
contacted me in May 2000 to verify something I had written in an earlier article. The person who contacted me
indicated that the USGS had a growing interest in fungi in the marine environment. I think I know why and also,
from whom they had gotten my name.
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