Determination of Fungal Diversity in a Semiarid Area Desert by Next-Generation Sequencing

The fugal importance in terrestrial ecosystems is significant. However, our knowledge based on fungal distribution and its diversity in natural communities, especially in semi-arid ecosystems, seems to low. To have proper information on fungal community structure and the impact of environmental factors on the community composition, we assessed fungal diversity accompanied by soil chemical properties.

Soil sampling was done in two seasons, spring and autumn, from two different sites, which were both cold and warm in a semiarid ecosystem located in Kerman province, Iran. Soil chemical properties were measured according to standard methods. The fungal community was estimated by the next-generation sequencing of the ITS region (ITS1f-ITS2).

By Illumina Miseq data analysis, 1542 Operational Taxonomic Units in soil samples were identified. Variation in the fungal community between the two sampling sites may be because of remarkable differences in environmental conditions, such as moisture and soil organic carbon. The dominant phylum was Ascomycota, followed by Basidiomycota.

Various fungi were identified in this ecosystem. Further studies are necessary to reveal the possible roles of the dominant fungal species inhabiting semiarid soils.