Aspergillus halopiscium sp. nov., a halophilic fungus isolated from dried marine anchovies in Vietnam

In a study on the diversity of halotolerant fungi associated with salted fish products (dried marine fish and fish sauce production facilities) in Vietnam, three strains of Aspergillus subgenus Polypaecilum were obtained by placing the samples on diluted fish sauce agar (7% NaCl, 1% amino acids, 2% agar). The strains were halophilic. On MEA, they formed compact and raised colonies, suggesting stressed conditions. Growth was enhanced with the addition of NaCl at concentrations of 5 %–10 %. Growth was poor at 15 % NaCl, and no growth was observed at 20 % NaCl. Fungal growth on both MEA and fish sauce agar produced a strong ammonia odor, indicating a high level of deamination activity. DNA sequences of the ITS-LSU rRNA, and rpb2, tub2, and cmdA coding gens suggest the fungus is closest to Aspergillus pisce but represent a distinct species. A novel taxon Aspergillus halopiscium is proposed. The attached dataset includes a ITS sequence alignment of species in the subgenus Polypaecilum and the maximum likelihood tree.