The Fungicide Tebuconazole Confounds Concentrations of Molecular Biomarkers Estimating Fungal Biomass
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The Fungicide Tebuconazole Confounds Concentrations of Molecular Biomarkers Estimating Fungal Biomass Patrick Baudy1 · Marco Konschak1 · Harshada Sakpal1 · Christiane Baschien2 · Ralf Schulz1,3 · Mirco Bundschuh1,4 · Jochen P. Zubrod1,3 Received: 31 March 2020 / Accepted: 18 August 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Due to their ecological importance, fungi are suitable indicator organisms for anthropogenic stress. To estimate fungal biomass, the fungal membrane molecule ergosterol is often quantified as a proxy. Estimates based on ergosterol may, however, be distorted by exposure to demethylase inhibiting (DMI) fungicides, interfering with sterol synthesis. To test this hypothesis, we exposed ten fungal species to the DMI fungicide tebuconazole and measured concentrations of ergosterol and DNA per unit dry mass of the fungal hyphae. The latter served as alternative biomass proxy that is not specifically targeted by tebuconazole. Effects of tebuconazole on ergosterol concentrations were species-specific, while concentrations were on average reduced by 13%. In contrast, DNA concentrations were on average increased by 13%. We demonstrate that DMI fungicides – at close to field relevant levels – can distort fungal biomass estimation, complicating the use of this endpoint for environmental management. Keywords Ergosterol · Azole fungicides · qPCR · Freshwater fungi · Ascomycetes · Community composition Fungi are, due to their ecological importance (Dighton and White 2017), frequently utilized as indicator organisms in laboratory or field studies assessing impacts of anthropogenic stress on the integrity of aquatic and terrestrial systems (e.g. Rajapaksha et al. 2004; Solé et al. 2008; Murugan et al. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-02977-9 contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Patrick Baudy baudy@uni‑landau.de * Mirco Bundschuh bundschuh@uni‑landau.de 1
iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau, Germany
2
Leibniz Institute DSMZ–German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
3
Eußerthal Ecosystem Research Station, University of Koblenz-Landau, Birkenthalstraße 13, 76857 Eußerthal, Germany
4
Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7050, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden
2014; Pesce et al. 2016). Along with their functional performance, fungal biomass is widely quantified by molecular biomarkers. These include, inter alia, the fungal membrane molecule ergosterol and taxon-specific nucleic acid sequence motifs (Gessner 2005; Manerkar et al. 2008; Baudy et al. 2019). Particularly fungicides harbour substances designed to interfere with the metabolism and synthesis of the above mentioned molecular biomarkers in fungi (Fungicide Resistance Action Committee 2018). Consequently, th
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