Abstract
This study investigated the biodiversity, phylogeny, and antifungal activity of endophytic fungi isolated from Zanthoxylum bungeanum. A total of 940 isolates obtained were grouped into 93 morphotypes, 43 species, and 23 genera, which were authenticated by molecular identification based on rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis. A high diversity of endophytic fungi from Z. bungeanum are observed with high species richness S (43), Margalef index D′ (6.1351), Shannon–Wiener index H′ (3.2743), Simpson diversity index Ds (0.9476), PIE index (0.9486), and evenness Pielou index J (0.8705) but a low dominant index λ (0.0524). Significant tissue specificity of the endophytic fungi was observed in Z. bungeanum, and the highest species richness and diversity indexes were obtained in the stem. Phylogenetic analyses of the 93 endophytic isolates were carried out by the neighbor-joining (NJ) method to demonstrate their evolutionary processes. Antifungal activities of endophytic fungi were assayed and eight endophytic isolates showed strong and long-lasting inhibition against host pathogenic fungi Fusarium sambucinum and Pseudocercospora zanthoxyli. Here, for the first time, we systematically demonstrate the biodiversity, phylogeny, and antifungal activity of endophytic fungi associated with Z. bungeanum and reveal the value of sampling different tissues of a given plant to obtain the greatest endophyte species diversity, which might offer a framework for further investigation and utilization of endophytic fungi as aunique source of interesting and useful bioactive compounds.
Highlights
Endophytic fungi have been reported as novel sources of bioactive compounds to be applied in the agricultural field
The isolates from different tissues were separated, even though they possessed the same morphological characteristics. According to their morphological characteristics, the isolates from the roots, stem, leaves, fruit, and thorns were preliminarily categorized according to morphotypes, which were recorded as Zbf-R, Zbf-S, Zbf-L, Zbf-F, and Zbf-T, respectively
The present study is the first report to systematically analyze the biodiversity and antifungal activity of endophytic fungi isolated from Z. bungeanum using culture-dependent methods
Summary
Endophytic fungi have been reported as novel sources of bioactive compounds to be applied in the agricultural field. It has been frequently reported that endophytic fungi can protect host plants against pests by producing protective compounds, conferring the resistances of host plants to biotic or abiotic stresses by enhancing defensive system and improving the growth and product yield of plants directly or indirectly [1,2,3]. Given the sideeffects of indiscriminate use of conventional chemical fungicides, i.e., contaminating environment, damaging human health, inducing pathogen resistance to fungicides, and causing resurgence of plant disease, the exploitation of natural bio-control agents has become an overwhelming trend in integrated pest management [4,5,6]. Plant endophytic fungi are just such natural resources of bio-control agents. Substantial renewed attention has been paid to the inhibitory activity of endophytic fungi against pathogenic fungi and their potential in the biological control of plant diseases [7,8].
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