Aspergillus aeneus Rediscovered in India from an Extreme Habitat

During a survey of psychrotrophic soil fungi from a high-altitude cold desert (4000 masl), nine species of the genus Aspergillus were recovered. One of the species was identified as Aspergillus aeneus based on its morphological and molecular characterization. This species has been rediscovered from India from an extreme habitat as a psychrotolerant after 56 years of its first report from tropical soil in Madhya Pradesh. Globally, this fungus is a rare species with limited occurrence, being reported so far only from India, Somalia and Costa Rica. It is a novel representative of desert fungi that showed cellulase and protease activity, but lack lipase activity.