AUTHOR=Cong Bailin , Yin Xiaofei , Deng Aifang , Shen Jihong , Tian Yongqi , Wang Shaoyun , Yang Huanghao TITLE=Diversity of Cultivable Microbes From Soil of the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica, and Their Potential Application JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.570836 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.570836 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=To explore the diversity and application potential of Antarctic microorganisms, 1208 strains bacteria and fungi were isolated from 5 samples collected from the Fildes Peninsula during China's 27th and 31st Antarctic expeditions. Eighty-three strains bacteria belonging to 20 genera and 30 strains fungi belonging to 7 genera were identified. Among them, 8 strains bacteria and 10 strains fungi showed low sequence similarity to the database, suggesting that they might be novel species. Physiological-biochemical characteristics showed that the identified bacteria could utilize many kinds of carbohydrates and that the identified fungi could produce several kinds of extracellular enzymes. The fungal strain MS-19, identified as Aspergillus sydowii, possesses the potential to produce antifungal activity agents based on an activity-guided approach. Further isolation yielded four polyketones: versicone A (1), versicone B (2), 4-methyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyran-2-one (3), and (R)-(+)-sydowic acid (4). It should be noted that 1 displayed strong activity against Candida albicans, with an MIC value of 3.91 μg/mL.