Species Diversity of Micromycetes Associated with Epipactis helleborine and Epipactis purpurata (Orchidaceae, Neottieae) in Southwestern Poland

Rafał Ogórek,Zbigniew Łobas,Klaudia Kurczaba,Anna Jakubska-Busse,Elżbieta Żołubak

doi:10.3390/d12050182

Abstract

The Orchidaceae family is a diverse family of flowering plants that occur naturally in most parts of the world. However, fungal communities inhabiting different parts of orchids are not sufficiently described. The aim of the study was to conduct a mycological evaluation of Epipactis helleborine and E. purpurata (Orchidaceae), which grow naturally in Lower Silesia (SW Poland), by identifying the species composition of the culturable micromycetes fungi on the surfaces of the plants and from the inner layers of the tissues. Fungi were identified based on a phenotypic and genotypic analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first such analysis. This study showed that more species of micromycetes were cultured from E. helleborine compared with E. purpurata. The flowering plants of E. helleborine were inhabited by the largest number of culturable fungal species (13 species), and the fewest species were isolated from the flowering plants of E. purpurata (eight species). Some of these fungal species may be pathogens of the plants. The surface tissues of the orchids were mainly inhabited by Mucor moelleri and/or Penicillium biourgeianum. The inner layers of these plants were the most colonized by Alternaria tenuissima and/or Arthrinium arundinis and/or Fusarium sporotrichioides. The relative dominance of these fungal species depended mainly on the development phase of the plants.

Highlights

IntroductionBoth micromycetes and macromycetes, are ubiquitous and organotrophic eukaryotes [1]
Fungi, both micromycetes and macromycetes, are ubiquitous and organotrophic eukaryotes [1].They are an important component of the biocenosis of many ecosystems because they allow their proper functioning
The isolated fungi showed diversity in the production of different microscopic morphological structures (Figure 2). The comparison of these microscopic and macroscopic observations of culture allowed for their initial identification matched to 15 species: Absidia cylindrospora, Alternaria alternata, Alternaria tenuissima, Arthrinium arundinis, Aspergillus fumigatus, Epicoccum nigrum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium tricinctum, Ilyonectria robusta, Mucor hiemalis, Mucor moelleri, Penicillium biourgeianum, Penicillium manginii and Trichoderma viride

Summary

Introduction

Both micromycetes and macromycetes, are ubiquitous and organotrophic eukaryotes [1] They are an important component of the biocenosis of many ecosystems because they allow their proper functioning. Fungi can function as parasites, saprotrophs or symbionts of plants and animals [2,3,4,5,6] It seems that pathogenic and symbiotic fungi are important for many plants, such as orchids, among others [7,8]. Many species of orchids are locally distributed and generally rare These plants are associated with groups of fungi, including mycorrhizal, because of their initially mycoheterotrophic lifestyle and internal symbiotic fungi (endophytic) [7,8,9]. Orchids are plants that are obligatorily dependent on their symbiotic fungi during the protocorm stage and, in mycoheterotrophic species, throughout their life

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