Laura Zucconi

• Bachelor of Biology
• Professor (Associate) at University of Tuscia

Antarctica, a seemingly barren and icy wilderness, is home to a diverse array of microbial life that plays a critical role in sustaining its ecosystems. These resilient microorganisms drive nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, but their function in global processes remains unclear. This pristine environment faces mounting threats from human a...

In restoration practice, direct methods become necessary when indirect methods fail and when aesthetic, chemical, or physical biodeteriorative effects threaten the integrity and legibility of the artifact. More effective methods that prioritize the health of workers and the environment are essential for the outdoor stone monument's conservation. Al...

Background Fungal DNA is rarely reported in metagenomic studies of ancient samples. Although fungi are essential for their interactions with all kingdoms of life, limited information is available about ancient fungi. Here, we explore the possibility of the presence of ancient fungal species in the gut of Ötzi, the Iceman, a naturally mummified huma...

With the simultaneous growth in interest from the mycological community to discover fungal species and classify them, there is also an important need to assemble all taxonomic information onto common platforms. Fungal classification is facing a rapidly evolving landscape and organizing genera into an appropriate taxonomic hierarchy is central to be...

A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Black soldier flies Bioconversion OFMSU (organic fraction of municipal solid waste) DNA-barcoding ITS 16S Ultrastructure A B S T R A C T In a world with a population exceeding 8 billion people and continuing to grow, pollution from food and plastic waste is causing long-term issues in ecosystems. Potential solutions...

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, are known for their extreme aridity, cold, and nutrient‐poor conditions. These valleys provide a valuable comparison to environments on Mars. The survival of microorganisms in these areas hinges on their ability to withstand dehydration due to the limited availability of liquid water. S...

Highlights •Microbial communities associated with different native species were analyzed. •Microbial communities responses to invasion varied for different native species. •The responses varied in the study sites and were linked to edaphic conditions. •Fungal components of the communities are more affected than bacteria ones. •Carpobrotus invas...

Wooden Cultural Heritage (WCH) represents a significant portion of the world's historical and artistic heritage, consisting of immovable and movable artefacts. Despite the expertise developed since ancient times to enhance its durability, wooden artefacts are inevitably prone to degradation. Fungi play a pivotal role in the deterioration of WCH in...

Highly adapted and often endemic microbial taxa inhabit soils and rocks of extremely cold and dry Antarctic deserts. However, the source populations of these organisms have not yet been clarified. Local hotspots, rather than worldwide wind dispersion, have been described as the primary sources of microbial diversity. In particular, the endolithic n...

Over the last century, high-altitude and high-latitude regions have experienced global warming at rates higher than the worldwide average. Climate change influences complex soil-microbe-plant-atmosphere interactions, leading to changes in plant-associated soil microbial diversity and functioning and alterations in nutrient cycling, carbon fluxes, a...

Antarctic soils represent one of the most pristine environments on Earth, where highly adapted and often endemic microbial species withstand multiple extremes. Specifically, fungal diversity is extremely low in Antarctic soils and species distribution and diversity are still not fully characterized in the continent. Despite the unique features of t...

Here, we explore the possible ancient fungal species in the gut of Ötzi, the Iceman, a naturally mummified human found in the Tyrolean Alps (border between Italy and Austria). While ancient DNA (aDNA) has been extensively used to study human, animal, and plant evolution, this research focuses on ancient microbial diversity, specifically fungi. Fung...

The Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is an international initiative of more than 550 mycologists to develop an electronic structure for the classification of these organisms. The members of the Consortium originate from 55 countries/regions worldwide, from a wide range of disciplines, and include senior, mid-ca...

The prevention and control of biological patinas on outdoor stone monuments represent a demanding challenge for the conservation of cultural heritage also due to some microorganisms, particularly resistant to treatments, such as black meristematic fungi, an eco-physiological group well known for its tolerance to extreme conditions. Even if several...

Highly simplified microbial communities colonise rocks and soils of continental Antarctica ice‐free deserts. These two habitats impose different selection pressures on organisms, yet the possible filtering effects on the diversity and composition of microbial communities have not hitherto been fully characterised. We hence compared fungal communiti...

The draft genomes of five Naganishia strains were sequenced using MinION and annotated using Funannotate pipeline. Phylogenetic and genomic analyses were performed to provide their genetic relationships, diversity, and potential functional capabilities. This approach will aid in understanding their potential to survive under microgravity and their...

Since the very first steps of space exploration, fungi have been recorded as contaminants, hitchhikers, or as part of missions' crews and payloads. Because fungi can cause human disease and are highly active decomposers, their presence in a space-linked context has been a source of major concern given their possible detrimental effects on crews and...

In Antarctica, ice-free areas can be found along the coast, on mountain peaks, and in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where microorganisms well-adapted to harsh conditions can survive and reproduce. Metabolic analyses can shed light on the survival mechanisms of Antarctic soil communities from both coastal sites, under different plant coverage stages, and...

Carpobrotus species were introduced in Europe to stabilise dunes and for ornamental purposes, resulting in highly invasive thanks to their fast growth and spread, and the production of a high number of seeds. In addition, their litter exerts a strong allelopathic effect, reducing germination and establishment rates of native species. Within the pro...

plant-associated Italian Ascomycota

We currently lack a predictive understanding of how soil archaeal communities may respond to climate change, particularly in Alpine areas where warming is far exceeding the global average. Here, we characterized the abundance, structure, and function of total (by metagenomics) and active soil archaea (by metatranscriptomics) after 5‐year experiment...

The disinfection of deteriogenic microorganisms and the removal of induced chromatic alterations in artworks are still open challenges in the field of conservation. For this purpose, a new alcoholic hydrogel was tested to remove an extensive fungal attack from a multimaterial collage by the artist Alessandro Kokocinski and to mitigate chromatic cha...

Here, successful germination protocols for the following three coastal dune species are presented: Glaucium flavum, Helichrysum stoechas and Plantago coronopus. It is the first report of germination data for these species in the Italian peninsula. Seeds were collected in coastal dunes along the Tyrrhenian coasts in south Tuscany and north Latium (c...

An updated account of Fagales-inhabiting Italian Ascomycota and mycogeography, with additions to Pezizomycotina. Abstract Studies of plant-associated Ascomycota are topical, as they have varied life modes depending on their hosts in different ecosystems. In Italy, Fagales are economically and ecologically important plants, especially in the Alps an...

Six strains of black meristematic fungi were isolated from Antarctic soils, gasoline car tanks and from the marine alga Flabellia petiolata . These fungi were characterized by morphological, physiological and phylogenetic analyses. According to the maximum-likelihood analysis reconstructed with ITS and LSU sequences, these strains belonged to the g...

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs), the widest permanently ice-free area of Antarctica, are considered one of the closest terrestrial analogues of the Martian environment. In particular, dry permafrost, unique of MDVs on Earth, is ubiquitous in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Although endolithic communities were assumed to be the predominant life form...

The impact of global warming on biological communities colonizing European alpine ecosystems was recently studied. Hexagonal open top chambers (OTCs) were used for simulating a short‐term in situ warming (estimated around 1°C) in some alpine soils to predict the impact of ongoing climate change on resident microbial communities. Total microbial DNA...

Wall paintings have been a cultural expression of human creativity throughout history. Their degradation or destruction represents a loss to the world’s cultural heritage, and fungi have been identified as a major contributor to their decay. We provide a critical review of fungi isolated from worldwide wall paintings between 1961–2021. One-hundred...

As the European Alps are experiencing a strong climate warming; this study analyzed the soil microbiome at different altitudes and among different vegetation types at the Stelvio Pass (Italian Alps), aiming to i) characterize the composition and functional potential of the microbiome of soils and their gene expression during the peak vegetative sta...

Identifying species involved in biodeterioration processes is helpful, however further effort is needed to assess their ecological requirements and actual activity. Black fungi (BF) represent one of the most underestimated threats to stone cultural heritage in the Mediterranean basin; they are difficult to kill or remove due to their ability to gro...

Here, successful germination protocols for the following three annual Salsola species are presented: Salsola soda (= Soda inermis), S. squarrosa subsp. controversa, and S. tragus subsp. tragus. It is the first report of germination data for the three species for Italy. Seeds were collected in beaches and dunes along the Tyrrhenian coasts in Sicily...

Mars is a primary target of astrobiological interest: its past environmental conditions may have been favourable to the emergence of a prebiotic chemistry and, potentially, biological activity. In situ exploration is currently underway at the Mars surface, and the subsurface (2 m depth) will be explored in the future ESA ExoMars mission. In this co...

Human-made hydrocarbon-rich environments are important reservoirs of microorganisms with specific degrading abilities and pathogenic potential. In particular, black fungi are of great interest, but their presence in the environment is frequently underestimated because they are difficult to isolate. In the frame of a biodiversity study from fuel-con...

This brief editorial summarizes and highlights experimental researches carried out in different environments, ranging from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, to the Arctic, to maritime and continental Antarctica, or spreading across the poles. Different types of soils were studied, from oligotrophic to nitrogen rich soils, from soils underneath plants to...

Ice-free areas of Victoria Land, in Antarctica, are characterized by different terrestrial ecosystems, that are dominated by microorganisms supporting highly adapted communities. Despite the unique conditions of these ecosystems, reports on their bacterial diversity are still fragmentary. From this perspective, 60 samples from 14 localities were an...

Roots can produce mechanical and chemical alterations to building structures, especially in the case of underground historical artifacts. In archaeological sites, where vegetation plays the dual role of naturalistic relevance and potential threat, trees and bushes are under supervision. No customized measures can be taken against herbaceous plants...

In Victoria Land, Antarctica, ice-free areas are restricted to coastal regions and dominate the landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. These two environments are subjected to different pressures that determine the establishment of highly adapted fungal communities. Within the kingdom of fungi, filamentous, yeasts and meristematic/microcolonial growt...

Soil enzymatic activity was assessed in the Stelvio Pass area (Italian Central Alps) aiming to define the possible effects of climate change on microbial functioning. Two sites at two different elevations were chosen, a subalpine (2239 m) and an alpine belt (2604-2624 m), with mean annual air temperature differing by almost 3 °C, coherent with the...

Subterranean Cultural Heritage sites are frequently subject to biological colonization due to the high levels of humidity, even in conditions of low irradiance and oligotrophy. Here microorganisms form complex communities that may be dangerous through mineral precipitation, through the softening of materials and also causing frequent surface discol...

The McMurdo Dry Valleys surface is mainly constituted from unconsolidated permafrost. Despite the combination of cold and dry conditions, transiently wetted soils close to lake edges are hotspots of intense biological activity, that can support the surrounding soil ecosystems in such extreme environments. These soils host simple microbial communiti...

In the last few years, many microfungi—including plant-associated species—have been reported from various habitats and substrates in Italy. In this study of pleosporalean fungi, we researched terrestrial habitats in the Provinces of Arezzo (Tuscany region), Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna region) in Italy. Our research on Italian pleospora...

The cryptoendolithic endemic black fungus Cryomyces antarcticus was first isolated from sandstone collected at Linnaeus Terrace, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, by E.I. Friedmann in 1982, but published as a new species and genus in 2005. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the coldest hyperarid desert on Earth and one of the best t...

Here, successful germination protocols for the following four annual pansies are presented: Viola arvensis subsp. arvensis, V. hymettia, V. kitaibeliana, and V. tricolor subsp. tricolor. Seeds were collected mainly in Central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, and Latium) and in Sicily. The germination ability was tested at the Tuscia Germplasm Bank (BGT) usi...

Antarctica, one of the harshest environments in the world, has been successfully colonized by extremophilic, psychrophilic, and psychrotolerant microorganisms, facing a range of extreme conditions. Fungi are the most diverse taxon in the Antarctic ecosystems, including soils. Genetic adaptation to this environment results in the synthesis of a rang...

Five yeast strains were isolated from soil and sediments collected from Alps and Apennines glaciers during sampling campaigns carried out in summer 2007 and 2017, respectively. Based on morphological and physiological tests and on phylogenetic analyses reconstructed with ITS and D1/D2 sequences, the five strains were considered to belong to two rel...

Isoëtes sabatina is an aquatic quillwort endemic to Italy. It is one of the rarest quillworts in Europe, and is critically endangered due to restricted range and to the continuous decline of both population and habitat quality. This study aims to develop an optimized protocol to reproduce and grow I. sabatina sporelings. Mature and immature megaspo...

Climate warming in Greenland is facilitating the expansion of shrubs across wide areas of tundra. Given the close association between plants and soil microorganisms and the important role of soil bacteria in ecosystem functioning, it is of utmost importance to characterize microbial communities of arctic soil habitats and assess the influence of pl...

The endolithic niche represents an ultimate refuge to microorganisms in the Mars-like environment of the Antarctic desert. In an era of rapid global change and desertification, the interest in these border ecosystems is increasing due to speculation on how they maintain balance and functionality at the dry limits of life. To assure a reliable estim...

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 la...

Ice-free regions in coastal areas of Victoria Land, Antarctica, are patchily distributed, limited in extent and characterized by a simple vegetation of lichens and mosses, growing only for a short period during the austral summer. These organisms are associated with soil particles and microorganisms (e.g., algae, microfungi and bacteria) to make up...

The harsh environmental conditions of the ice-free regions of Continental Antarctica are considered one of the closest Martian analogues on Earth. There, rocks play a pivotal role as substratum for life and endolithism represents a primary habitat for microorganisms when external environmental conditions become incompatible with active life on rock...

Describing the total biodiversity of an environmental metacommunity is challenging due to the presence of cryptic and rare species and incompletely described taxonomy. How many samples to collect is a common issue that faces ecologists when designing fieldwork sampling. Nowadays, high-throughput sequencing allows examination of large numbers of sam...

The present contribution is related to the project “Italian loci classici census”, promoted by the Italian Botanical Society and aimed at recognizing and typifying all the names of the taxa described from Italy and their loci classici, in order to increase their systematic knowledge and promote further studies (Domina et al. 2012; Brundu et al. 201...

The microbial communities that inhabit lithic niches inside sandstone in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys of life’s limits on Earth. The cryptoendolithic communities survive in these ice-free areas that have the lowest temperatures on Earth coupled with strong thermal fluctuations, extreme aridity, oligotrophy and high levels of solar and UV radia...

Successful germination protocols for the following six dune species are presented: Centaurea sphaerocephala subsp. sphaerocephala, Jacobaea maritima subsp. maritima, Matthiola sinuata, Medicago marina, Pancratium maritimum, and Silene canescens. Seeds were collected in sand dunes along the Tyrrhenian coasts in south Tuscany and north Latium (centra...

Fungi are the most abundant and one of the most diverse components of arctic soil ecosystems, where they are fundamental drivers of plant nutrient acquisition and recycling. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the factors driving the diversity and functionality of fungal communities associated with these ecosystems, especially in the scope of...

Fungi are the most abundant and one of the most diverse components of arctic soil ecosystems, where they are fundamental drivers of plant nutrient acquisition and recycling. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the factors driving the diversity and functionality of fungal communities associated with these ecosystems, especially in the scope of...

Endolithic growth within rocks is a critical adaptation of microbes living in harsh environments where exposure to extreme temperature, radiation, and desiccation limits the predominant life‐forms, such as in the ice‐free regions of Continental Antarctica. The microbial diversity of the endolithic communities in these areas has been sparsely examin...

Describing the total biodiversity of an environmental metacommunity is challenging due to the presence of cryptic and rare species and incompletely described taxonomy. How many samples to collect is a common issue faces ecologists when designing fieldwork sampling: collecting many samples may indeed capture the whole metacommunity structure, but ca...

The harsh environmental conditions of the ice-free regions of Continental Antarctica are considered one of the closest Martian analogues on Earth. There, rocks play a pivotal role as substratum for life and endolithism represents a primary habitat for microorganisms when external environmental conditions become incompatible with active life on rock...

A 30.43-Mb draft genome sequence with 10,355 predicted protein-coding genes was produced for the ascomycete fungus Exophiala mesophila strain CCFEE 6314, a black yeast isolated from Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities. The sequence will be of importance for identifying differences among extremophiles and mesophiles and cataloguing the global pop...

Good‐quality dry seeds of some orchids have the potential to survive for decades under conventional seed‐bank conditions, but further research is needed to fill existing gaps in knowledge regarding seed behaviour under long‐term dry storage. The objectives of this study were to evaluate germination ability on two asymbiotic culture media with diffe...

The need to optimize seed banking efforts has stimulated research for rapid methods to estimate quality in seed-lots. For terrestrial orchids, viability testing using tetrazolium (TTC) staining requires chemical scarification, as seeds have an impermeable testa. Different seed-coat permeability may affect TTC staining, thus affecting the results. T...

BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars EXperiment) is an ESA/Roscosmos space exposure experiment housed within the exposure facility EXPOSE-R2 outside the Zvezda module on the International Space Station (ISS). The design of the multiuser facility supports—among others—the BIOMEX investigations into the stability and level of degradation of space-exposed biosign...

Cryptoendolithic microbial communities, discovered in the extremely cold, hyper-arid McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica (Friedmann 1982), the most similar terrestrial environments to Mars surface (Wynn-Williams and Edwards 2000; Onofri et al., 2004), have been considered as a candidate in supporting the search of life in Mars exploration. In such ha...

The search for life beyond Earth involves investigation into the responses of model organisms to the deleterious effects of space. In the frame of the BIOlogy and Mars Experiment, as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) space mission EXPOSE-R2 in low Earth orbit (LEO), dried colonies of the Antarctic cryptoendolithic black fungus Cryomyces antar...

Despite living organisms are not exposed to acute ionizing radiation under natural conditions, some exhibit a high radiation resistance. Understanding this phenomenon is important for assessing the impact of radiation-related accidents, occupational exposures and space missions. In this context, in this study we analyzed the effect of gamma rays on...

The BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars Experiment) is part of the European Space Agency (ESA) space mission EXPOSE-R2 in Low-Earth Orbit, devoted to exposing microorganisms for 1.5 years to space and simulated Mars conditions on the International Space Station. In preparing this mission, dried colonies of the Antarctic cryptoendolithic black fungus Cryomyces...

Endolithic growth is one of the most spectacular microbial adaptations to extreme environmental constraints and the predominant life-form in the ice-free areas of Continental Antarctica. Although Antarctic endolithic microbial communities are known to host among the most resistant and extreme-adapted organisms, our knowledge on microbial diversity...

The black fungi Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri are highly melanized and are resilient to cold, ultra-violet, ionizing radiation and other extreme conditions. These microorganisms were isolated from cryptoendolithic microbial communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica) and studied in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), using the EXPOSE-E fac...

Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial communities dominate ice-free areas of continental Antarctica, among the harshest environments on Earth. The endolithic lifestyle is a remarkable adaptation to the exceptional environmental extremes of this area, which is considered the closest terrestrial example to conditions on Mars. Recent efforts have attem...

Brines are hypersaline solutions which have been found within the Antarctic permafrost from the Tarn Flat area (Northern Victoria Land). Here, an investigation on the possible presence and diversity of fungal life within those peculiar ecosystems has been carried out for the first time. Brines samples were collected at 4- and 5-meter depths (TF1 an...

The aim of this study was to analyze how protracted exposure to X-rays delivered at low dose rates of 0.0032–0.052 kGy/h affects the survival and metabolic activity of two microfungi capable of melanogenesis: fast-growing Cryptococcus neoformans (CN) and slow-growing Cryomyces antarcticus (CA). Melanized CN and CA cells survived the protracted expo...

A wide sampling of rocks, colonized by microbial epi–endolithic communities, was performed along an altitudinal gradient from sea level to 3600 m asl and sea distance from the coast to 100 km inland along the Victoria Land Coast, Antarctica. Seventy-two rock samples of different typology, representative of the entire survey, were selected and studi...

The Antarctic black meristematic fungus Cryomyces antarcticus CCFEE 515 occurs endolithically in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, one of the best analogue for Mars environment on Earth. To date, this fungus is considered one of the best eukaryotic models for astrobiological studies and has been repeatedly selected for space experiments in the...

Space represents an extremely harmful environment for life and survival of terrestrial organisms. In the last decades, a considerable deal of attention was paid to characterize the effects of spaceflight relevant radiation on various model organisms. The aim of this study was to test the survival capacity of the cryptoendolithic black fungus Cryomy...

Knowledge of the relationships and thus the classification of fungi, has developed rapidly with increasingly widespread use of molecular techniques, over the past 10–15 years, and continues to accelerate. Several genera have been found to be polyphyletic, and their generic concepts have subsequently been emended. New names have thus been introduced...

In restoration and conservation practices, biocide treatments are considered one of the most practical approaches to remove biological colonization on artworks, including stone. Numerous studies have focused on the short- and long-term effects of these treatments and recently many alternative methods to reduce their potential hazards to human healt...

The draft genome sequences of Rachicladosporium antarcticum CCFEE 5527 and Rachicladosporium sp. CCFEE 5018 are the first sequenced genomes from this genus, which comprises rock-inhabiting fungi. These endolithic strains were isolated from inside rocks collected from the Antarctic Peninsula and Battleship Promontory (McMurdo Dry Valleys), Antarctic...

Life dispersal between planets, planetary protection, and the search for biosignatures are main topics in astrobiology. Under the umbrella of the STARLIFE project, three Antarctic endolithic microorganisms, the melanized fungus Cryomyces antarcticus CCFEE 515, a hyaline strain of Umbilicaria sp. (CCFEE 6113, lichenized fungus), and a Stichococcus s...

The search for traces of extinct or extant life in extraterrestrial environments is one of the main goals for astrobiologists; due to their ability to withstand stress producing conditions, extremophiles are perfect candidates for astrobiological studies. The BIOMEX project aims to test the ability of biomolecules and cell components to preserve th...