Diversity Of Endophytic Fungal Communities Research Articles

Diversity of endophytic fungal community in Huperzia serrata from different ecological areas and their correlation with Hup A content

BackgroundHuperzine A (Hup A) has attracted considerable attention as an effective therapeutic candidate drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Whereas, the production of Hup A from wild plants faced a major challenge, which is the wild Huperzia Serrata harbor a low Hup A content, has a long-life cycle, and has a small yield. At present, several reports showed that Hup A is produced by various endophytic fungal strains isolated from H. serrata, thereby providing an alternative method to produce the compound and reduce the consumption of this rare and endangered plant. However, till now, very few comprehensive studies are available on the biological diversity and structural composition of endophytic fungi and the effects of endophytic fungi on the Hup A accumulation in H. serrata.ResultsIn this research, the composition and diversity of fungal communities in H. serrata were deciphered based on high-throughput sequencing technology of fungal internal transcribed spacer regions2 (ITS2). The correlation between endophytic fungal community and Hup A content was also investigated. Results revealed that the richness and the diversity of endophytic fungi in H. serrata was various according to different tissues and different ecological areas. The endophytic fungal communities of H. serrata exhibit species-specific, ecological-specific, and tissue-specific characteristics. There are 6 genera (Ascomycota_unclassified, Cyphellophora, Fungi_unclassified, Sporobolomyces, and Trichomeriaceae_unclassified) were significantly positively correlated with Hup A content in all two areas, whereas, there are 6 genera (Auricularia, Cladophialophora, Cryptococcus, Mortierella, and Mycena) were significantly negatively correlated with Hup A content of in all two areas.ConclusionsThis study indicated a different composition and diverse endophytic fungal communities in H. serrata from different organs and ecological areas. The current study will provide the realistic basis and theoretical significance for understanding the biological diversity and structural composition of endophytic fungal communities in H. serrata, as well as providing novel insights into the interaction between endophytic fungi and Hup A content.

Diversity of Endophytic Fungal Community in Leaves of Artemisia argyi Based on High-throughput Amplicon Sequencing.

To investigate the community structure and diversity of endophytic fungi in the leaves of Artemisia argyi, leaf samples were collected from five A. argyi varieties grown in different cultivation areas in China, namely, Tangyin Beiai in Henan (BA), Qichun Qiai in Hubei (QA), Wanai in Nanyang in Henan (WA), Haiai in Ningbo in Zhejiang (HA), and Anguo Qiai in Anguo in Hebei (AQA), and analyzed using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. A total of 365,919 pairs of reads were obtained, and the number of operational taxonomic units for each sample was between 165 and 285. The alpha diversity of the QA and BA samples was higher, and a total of two phyla, eight classes, 12 orders, 15 families, and 16 genera were detected. At the genus level, significant differences were noted in the dominant genera among the samples, with three genera being shared in all the samples. The dominant genus in QA was Erythrobasidium, while that in AQA, HA, and BA was Sporobolomyces, and that in WA was Alternaria, reaching a proportion of 16.50%. These results showed that the fungal community structure and diversity in QA and BA were high. The endophytes are of great importance to the plants, especially for protection, phytohormone and other phytochemical production, and nutrition. Therefore, this study may be significant with the industrial perspective of Artemisia species.

Diversity of endophytic fungal community associated to the roots of Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels growing in the arid and semi-arid regions of Algeria

Current study identified endophytic fungi associated to Argania spinosa (argan) roots and revealed diverse haplotype diversity by the sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS). 586 operational taxonomic units were identified and these operational taxonomic units (OTUs) could be assigned to fungal functional diversity such as endophytes, ectomycorrhiza and putative pathogens. Ascomycota phylum was abundant. Beside Ascomycota phylum, Basidiomycota members were also found in argan roots. Geopora, Sebacina, Knufia, Tomentella, Penicillim had high relative abundance. Our results highlighted a non-nested assemblage of fungi. Current non-nested findings also confirm that fungi have similar pattern found in other habitats. Pairwise analysis mirrored segregation pattern between same and different functional fungal group. Fungi in semi-arid conditions are non-randomly structured. Members of Ascomycota phylum had high Z-scores. This is the first molecular study conducted in arid and semi-arid habitats of Algeria aiming to identify fungi associated with roots in argan tree. Given the fact that deserts are among harsh environments and fungi associated to desert plants may have implications for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Biodiversity and In Vitro Inhibition Study of Fungal Endophytes of Chlorophytum borivilianum Against Selected Phytopathogens

In a quest to find remedy against chemical fungicides, a tropical medicinal plant Chlorophytum borivilianum Sant and Fern., was selected for exploring diversity of endophytic fungal community and their biocontrol potential towards phytopathogens Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Rhizoctonia solani. From 209 leaf tissues of C. borivilianum brought from Delhi and Hyderabad, 51 endophytic fungal isolates were attained. Sequence analysis of PCR amplified rDNA ITS region grouped these endophytic fungal isolates into 12 genera. The most frequent species was Fusarium proliferatum (17.6%). Shannon diversity index ( $${\text{H}}^{{\prime }}$$ ) was found to be higher in Delhi (1.850) than Hyderabad (0.693) in 2010. Previously unknown as endophytes, plant pathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia bataticola and Setosphaeria rostrata have been reported from C. borivilianum. Bipolaris maydis, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Fusarium solani, Macrophomina phaseolina and R. bataticola were recovered from Delhi during first collection as deduced by principal component analysis. About 9.8% of endophytic fungal isolates exhibited anti-plant pathogenic fungi. F. proliferatum recovered from Delhi in 2011 displayed highly effective antifungal activity against all phytopathogens with IC50 value ranging from 0.527 to 2.119 mg/ml.

Community analysis of Persian oak fungal microbiome under dust storm conditions

Abstract Dust storms have major effects on terrestrial ecosystems through the long-distance transport and deposition of particulate matter. It is unclear how dust deposition affects plant-associated microbiomes in downwind ecosystems. Here we show that dust deposition may negatively influence the isolation, richness, and diversity of endophytic fungal communities of Persian oak. We used culture-based methods paired with Sanger sequencing to examine these effects on fungal assemblages isolated from leaf, branch and deposited dust. Increased amounts of dust deposition led to decreased endophytic fungal diversity in plant tissues but increased fungal diversity in deposited dust layers on leaves. Dust deposition decreased the abundance of a dominant endophyte in branches with promising biocontrol properties. Endophytic fungal communities found in leaves were more similar to fungal assemblages of deposited dust in comparison to branch endophytes. Our results suggest that dust storms may have ecosystem-wide effects by altering the fungal microbiomes of forest-forming trees.

Endophytic fungi harbored in the root of Sophora tonkinensis Gapnep: Diversity and biocontrol potential against phytopathogens.

This work, for the first time, investigated the diversity of endophytic fungi harbored in the xylem and phloem of the root of Sophora tonkinensis Gapnep from three geographic localities with emphasis on the influence of the tissue type and geographic locality on endophytic fungal communities and their potential as biocontrol agents against phytopathogens of Panax notoginseng. A total of 655 fungal strains representing 47 taxa were isolated. Forty‐two taxa (89.4%) were identified but not five taxa (10.6%) according to morphology and molecular phylogenetics. Out of identifiable taxa, the majority of endophyte taxa were Ascomycota (76.6%), followed by Basidiomycota (8.5%) and Zygomycota (4.3%). The alpha‐diversity indices indicated that the species diversity of endophytic fungal community harbored in the root of S. tonkinensis was very high. The colonization and species diversity of endophytic fungal communities were significantly influenced by the geographic locality but not tissue type. The geographic locality and tissue type had great effects on the species composition of endophytic fungal communities. Forty‐seven respective strains were challenged by three fungal phytopathogens of P. notoginseng and six strains exhibited significant inhibitory activity. It was noteworthy that endophytic Rhexocercosporidium sp. and F. solani strongly inhibited pathogenic F. solani and other fungal phytopathogens of P. notoginseng.

Species diversity of culturable endophytic fungi from Brazilian mangrove forests

This study aimed to perform a comparative analysis of the diversity of endophytic fungal communities isolated from the leaves and branches of Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia schaueriana and Laguncularia racemosa trees inhabiting two mangroves in the state of São Paulo, Brazil [Cananeia and Bertioga (oil spill-affected and unaffected)] in the summer and winter. Three hundred and forty-three fungi were identified by sequencing the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of rDNA. Differences were observed in the frequencies of fungi isolated from the leaves and branches of these three different plant species sampled from the Bertioga oil spill-affected and the oil-unaffected mangrove sites in the summer and winter; these differences indicate a potential impact on fungal diversity in the study area due to the oil spill. The molecular identification of the fungi showed that the fungal community associated with these mangroves is composed of at least 34 different genera, the most frequent of which were Diaporthe, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Trichoderma and Xylaria. The Shannon and the Chao1 indices [H'(95 %) = 4.00, H'(97 %) = 4.22, Chao1(95 %) = 204 and Chao1(97 %) = 603] indicated that the mangrove fungal community possesses a vast diversity and richness of endophytic fungi. The data generated in this study revealed a large reservoir of fungal genetic diversity inhabiting these Brazilian mangrove forests and highlighted substantial differences between the fungal communities associated with distinct plant tissues, plant species, impacted sites and sampling seasons.

Analysis of endophytic fungi community of Ligusticum chuanxiong using PCR-DGGE

To research the diversity of endophytic fungal communities among Ligusticum chuanxiong growing at 5 areas in Sichuan province, and illuminate the developing mechanism of geoherbs from the microecological perspective. The PCR-DGGE and DNA sequencing techniques were used to analyze the endophytic fungi community of L. chuanxiong. The community of endophytic fungi present difference among different growing areas. Though minor difference were found among individuals at the same area, similarity among individuals from the same growing areas were higher significantly than those from different growing areas. Compared with the other 4 growing areas, L. chuanxiong from Shiyang town, Dujiangyan city had more abundant endophytic fungi and low similarity to others, and which probably had special types of fungi. The abundant and stable endophytic fungal community is an important factor for the development of geoherb L. chuanxiong at Shiyang town, Dujiangyan city.

Diversity of endophytic fungal community associated with Piper hispidum (Piperaceae) leaves

Tropical and subtropical plants are rich in endophytic community diversity. Endophytes, mainly fungi and bacteria, inhabit the healthy plant tissues without causing any damage to the hosts. These fungi can be useful for biological control of pathogens and plant growth promotion. Some plants of the genus Piper are hosts of endophytic microorganisms; however, there is little information about endophytes on Piper hispidum, a medicinal shrub used as an insecticide, astringent, diuretic, stimulant, liver treatment, and for stopping hemorrhages. We isolated the fungal endophyte community associated with P. hispidum leaves from plants in a Brazilian forest remnant. The endophytic diversity was examined based on sequencing of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of rDNA. A high colonization frequency was obtained, as expected for tropical angiosperms. Isolated endophytes were divided into 66 morphogroups, demonstrating considerable diversity. We identified 21 isolates, belonging to 11 genera (Alternaria, Bipolaris, Colletotrichum, Glomerella, Guignardia, Lasiodiplodia, Marasmius, Phlebia, Phoma, Phomopsis, and Schizophyllum); one isolate was identified only to the order level (Diaporthales). Bipolaris was the most frequent genus among the identified endophytes. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the molecular identification of some isolates to genus level while for others it was confirmed at the species level.

Diversity of endophytic fungal community of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) and biological control of Crinipellis perniciosa, causal agent of Witches' Broom Disease.

The basidiomycete fungus Crinipellis perniciosa (Stahel) Singer is the causal agent of Witches' Broom Disease of Cacao (Theobromacacao L.) which is the main factor limiting cacao production in the Americas. Pod losses of up to 90% are experienced in affected areas as evidenced by the 50% drop in production in Bahia province, Brazil following the arrival of the C. perniciosa in the area in 1989. The disease has proven particularly difficult to control and many farmers in affected areas have given up cacao cultivation. In order to evaluate the potential of endophytes as a biological control agent of this phytopathogen, the endophytic fungal community of resistant and susceptible cacao plants as well as affected branches was studied between 2001 and 2002. The fungal community was identified by morphological traits and rDNA sequencing as belonging to the genera Acremonium, Blastomyces, Botryosphaeria, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Cordyceps, Diaporthe, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Gibberella, Gliocladium, Lasiodiplodia, Monilochoetes, Nectria, Pestalotiopsis, Phomopsis, Pleurotus, Pseudofusarium, Rhizopycnis, Syncephalastrum, Trichoderma, Verticillium and Xylaria. These fungi were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo by their ability to inhibit C. perniciosa. Among these, some were identified as potential antagonists, but only one fungus (Gliocladium catenulatum) reduced the incidence of Witches' Broom Disease in cacao seedlings to 70%.