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Antarctica is a reservoir of microbial biodiversity that has only partially been characterized. The same extreme conditions that hinder the scientific investigation of the continent have also selected organisms with remarkable adaptations and promising biotechnological applications. Fungi are widely recognized as being capable of producing a variety of compounds, and though many have already been isolated and characterized from diverse Antarctic environments, a deeper understanding of these organisms and the molecular mechanisms responsible for their capabilities is needed. The recent advances in sequencing and bioinformatics analysis tools are revolutionizing the life sciences and are already being applied to Antarctic bioprospection. Despite being regarded as a separate field, in which most researchers would rather not venture, bioinformatics presents a new frontier, especially to microbiologists. Comprehension of bioinformatics tools and techniques has much to add to any microbiological analysis. This chapter intends to familiarize the reader with the concepts and logic behind diverse bioinformatics methodologies and to present the omics studies performed so far on Antarctic fungal biodiversity, with a focus on the sequencing, assembly, and investigation of genomes. |
