# Cell Response to Oxidative Stress in Antarctic Filamentous Fungi
## 3 Growing Temperature Requirements of Antarctic Fungi  
The Antarctic mycoflora includes endemic and indigenous fungi that are able to grow and reproduce at low temperatures. They are well adapted, with the majority of them being psychrotolerant or rapid sporulating forms that can complete their lifecycles in an extremely short period. In addition, mesophilic cosmopolitan fungi may be found, transported as propagules from nearby areas, which are unable to grow in extreme conditions [24, 25, 73]. In most reports, the terminology used to characterize the temperature type of Antarctic fungi is that of Morita [6, 34, 74, 75, 76, 77]. Fungi isolated from Antarctica can be classified as psychrophilic, psychrotolerant (psychotrophic), and mesophilic-psychrotolerant [25, 78]. Psychophilic fungi can grow below 0 \({}^{\circ}\)C with optimum growth temperatures (OGT) around 15 \({}^{\circ}\)C or lower and maximum growth temperatures (MGT) around 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C, while psychrotolerant (psychotrophic) fungi are able to grow at 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C or lower and have MGT between 20 and 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C [79]. Mesophilic-psychrotolerant fungi (mesophilic behavior and psychrotolerant adaptation) have been classified as strains that do not grow at 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C, showing optimal growth at 35 \({}^{\circ}\)C, and can grow at 45 \({}^{\circ}\)C [54, 80, 81, 82]. In addition to the above-noted classification of microorganisms isolated from cold environments, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [83] proposed the terms 'eurpysychrophile' (instead of 'psychrotolerant' or 'psychrotroph') and'stenopsychrophile' (instead of 'true psychrophile'). In the present review, we follow the definition of [PERSON] [74]. The published data indicate a correlation between the temperature class of Antarctic fungi and their provenance [81]. In most cases, the Antarctic psychrophilic fungi are endemic species that can grow and reproduce in these harsh conditions [25, 55, 84, 85]. From the soils of Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica, isolated 16 psychrophilic fungal and one yeast strains belonging to genera _Acremonium_, _Aspergillus_, _Cladosporium_, _Fusarium_, _Trichoderna_, and _Torulopsis_[56]. Endemic psychrophilic strains were classified as species _Metschnikowia australis_, _Antarctomyces psychrotrophicus_, _Antarctomyces pellizariae_, _Cryomyces antarcticus_, _Friedmannionyces simplex_, _Friedmannionyces endolithicus_, _Mortierella antarctica_, _Penicillium_ antarcticum_, _Penicillium_, _Tnelebolus globosus_, _Thelebolus ellipsoideus_, _Thelebolus balaustiformis_, and _Thelebolus spongiae_[84]. Two endemic psychrophilic species of the genus _Antarctomyces_ (_A. psychrotrophicus_ and _A. pellizariae_) have been identified in the samples from the seasonal snow of the Antarctic Peninsula [44]. However, the Antarctic mycoflora consists mainly of cosmopolitan psychrotolerant taxa. For example, several cold-tolerant species belonging to the genera _Penicillium_, _Aspergillus_, _Cladosporium_, _Colletotrichum_, and _Rhodotorula_ have been recognized as cosmopolitan taxa, adapted to the extreme low temperatures of Antarctica [84]. Out of the 51 fungal isolates from King George Island, 76% have been identified as psychrotolerant and 26% as psychrophilic [86]. The prevalence of psychrotolerant fungi in surface soils of cold environments has been documented in several studies. According to [PERSON] [6], this could be attributed to solar radiation causing seasonal and diurnal increases in soil temperature, which favors the development of cold-adapted microorganisms over strict psychrophiles. Furthermore, the Antarctic mycoflora includes species displaying mesophilic-psychrotolerant behavior as a cold-adaptive strategy [24]. Such mesophilic-psychrotolerant fungi have been isolated from soils and marine sediment samples collected from King George Island and Whalers Bay [79]. The authors found that two strains of _Penicillium_ cf.