G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia
Marine fungi involve ecologically defined group of primarily filamentous ascomycetes, basidiomycetes and their anamorphs. The ecological importance of filamentous fungi in marine systems is often underestimated or ignored completely, and yet these organisms represent a diverse range of saprobes, pathogens and symbionts that form an integral part of coastal systems. The interactions between microbial diversity and ecosystem function are not well understood. In particular, it is unclear how population stability and metabolic function are related to diversity. Assessing fungal diversity accurately, encompassing phylogenetic diversity, species richness and evenness, is the first step towards modeling fungal assemblages dynamics in terms of species redundancy, species spatial and temporal distributions, and nutrient cycling. Similar limitations also apply to the identification, isolation and quantification of fungi from marine environments, with the additional complication of distinguishing between transitory and native forms. At present 32 species of 11 genera ascomycetes, 249 species of 57 genera anamorphic fungi were defined. It has been established that marine-derived fungi are more diverse in temperate waters than in tropical zone. More than 300 producers of new antibiotics, anticancer substances, and inhibitors of enzyme were obtained and structures of these substances were elucidated. About 50 producers of new enzymes were obtained.