Abstract
Simple SummaryThe Kingdom Fungi is one of the richest in species, most of which are still unknown. Many fungal species are hidden in the tropics, the area richest in biodiversity on earth. In this paper, a mycological analysis is presented on a vast number of soil samples collected in the Aguarongo forest, an important Andean Natural Reserve of Ecuador. The study was carried out by analyzing the total DNA extracted from the soil and unveiled a total of more than 400 species of fungi. The most abundant species belong to Ascomycota and Mortierellomycota; some are important beneficial fungi for the environments such as antagonistics of fungal pathogens or nematode predators, while others are well-known producers of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical compounds. Based on the results of this study, a picture of the mycodiversity of Aguarongo forest soil was obtained. This area hides a huge number of unknown fungal species that could be discovered; thus, the protection of the Aguarongo forest is mandatory.Fungi represent an essential component of ecosystems, functioning as decomposers and biotrophs, and they are one of the most diverse groups of Eukarya. In the tropics, many species are unknown. In this work, high-throughput DNA sequencing was used to discover the biodiversity of soil fungi in the Aguarongo forest reserve, one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in Ecuador. The rDNA metabarcoding analysis revealed the presence of seven phyla: Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Chytridiomycota, and Monoblepharomycota. A total of 440 identified species were recorded. They mainly belonged to Ascomycota (263) and Basidiomycota (127). In Mortierellomycota, 12 species were recorded, among which Podila verticillata is extremely frequent and represents the dominant species in the entire mycobiota of Aguarongo. The present research provides the first account of the entire soil mycobiota in the Aguarongo forest, where many fungal species exist that have strong application potential in agriculture, bioremediation, chemical, and the food industry. The Aguarongo forest hides a huge number of unknown fungal species that could be assessed, and its protection is of the utmost importance.
Highlights
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The Andes represent the largest mountain range on Earth and cross the western part of South America
In Ecuador, the inter-Andean valley is composed of humid areas at high altitudes, with physiognomies ranging from grasslands to forest formations, combined with andisol soils, which develop from volcanic ash and show little or moderate evolution, forming a unique ecoregion
Pecially ainKingdom natural reserves such as despite the Aguarongo forest. This is true above all for Fungi, Regarding the use of next-generation sequencing in research of soil fungal a Kingdom often neglected despite its key role in the functionality of terrestrial ecosys-commutems. nities, there are few studies in the tropics; a collection of metagenomic data is being implemented
Summary
The forest soils in the Andean highlands have high biodiversity and unique environmental characteristics. It is an endangered ecosystem, published maps and institutional affil-. Molecular methods based on PCR and ribosomal DNA sequencing have been successfully used to identify fungi at different taxonomic levels in different environmental samples and have helped to elucidate the ecological conditions that affect the structure and diversity of fungal communities [5,6,7]. The fungal biodiversity of the natural areas in Ecuador is little known due to its extreme richness and complexity. The analysis of genetic material directly extracted from environmental samples coupled with DNA next-generation sequencing technology is useful in discovering its mycobiota and the monitoring of its biodiversity over time and in different ecological conditions [10]. High-throughput DNA sequencing was used to discover, for the first time, the biodiversity of soil fungi in the Aguarongo forest reserve, one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the Ecuadorian Andes
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