Antarctica’s extreme environment represents one of the unique habitats where melanised, slow-growing, rock-inhabiting fungi (RIF) thrive. This study characterised 15 fungal strains of the genus Vermiconidia isolated from rocks on James Ross and Tail Islands in Antarctica through morphological, physiological, and multilocus phylogenetic analyses. Most strains were phenotypically similar and difficult to distinguish. However, a...

Black fungi are among the most resistant organisms to ionizing radiation on Earth. However, our current knowledge is based on studies on a few isolates, while the overall radioresistance limits across this microbial group and the relationship with local environmental conditions remain largely undetermined. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed the survival of 101 strains of black fungi isolated across a worldwide spatial...

Summary Black yeasts are among the most stress‐tolerant organisms of the planet, thriving under all types of terrestrial habitats and extreme environments. Yet, their global patterns and ecology remain far less studied, limiting our capacity to identify the main environmental drivers of these important organisms across biomes. To fill this knowledge gap, we analysed topsoils from 235 terrestrial ecosystems across and within gl...

Summary Astrobiology is mistakenly regarded by some as a field confined to studies of life beyond Earth. Here, we consider life on Earth through an astrobiological lens. Whereas classical studies of microbiology historically focused on various anthropocentric sub‐fields (such as fermented foods or commensals and pathogens of crop plants, livestock and humans), addressing key biological questions via astrobiological approaches...

Summary The diversity and composition of Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial communities in the Mars‐analogue site of Helliwell Hills (Northern Victoria Land, Continental Antarctica) are investigated, for the first time, applying both culture‐dependent and high‐throughput sequencing approaches. The study includes all the domains of the tree of life: Eukaryotes, Bacteria and Archaea to give a complete overview of biodiversity...

Summary A perennially frozen lake at Boulder Clay site (Victoria Land, Antarctica), characterized by the presence of frost mounds, have been selected as an in situ model for ecological studies. Different samples of permafrost, glacier ice and brines have been studied as a unique habitat system. An additional sample of brines (collected in another frozen lake close to the previous one) was also considered. Alpha‐ and beta‐diver...

Summary Melanin is a ubiquitous pigment with unique physicochemical properties. The resistance of melanized fungi to cosmic and terrestrial ionizing radiation suggests that melanin also plays a pivotal role in radioprotection. In this study, we compared the effects of densely‐ionizing deuterons and sparsely‐ionizing X‐rays on two microscopic fungi capable of melanogenesis. We utilized the fast‐growing pathogenic basiodiomycete...