Psychrophilic endophytic fungi with biological activity inhabit Cupressaceae plant family

Psychrophilic microorganisms are cold-adapted organisms that have an optimum growth temperature below 15 °C, and often below 5 °C. Endophytic microorganisms live inside healthy plants and biosynthesize an array of secondary metabolites which confer major ecological benefits to their host. We provide information, for the first time, on an endophytic association between bioactive psychrophilic fungi and trees in Cupressaceae plant family living in temperate to cold, semi-arid habitats. We have recovered psychrophilic endophytic fungi (PEF) from healthy foliar tissues of Cupressus arizonica, Cupressus sempervirens and Thuja orientalis (Cupressaceae, Coniferales). In total, 23 such fungi were found out of 110 endophytic fungal isolates. They were identified as ascomycetous fungi, more specifically Phoma herbarum, Phoma sp. and Dothideomycetes spp., all from Dothideomycetes. The optimal growth temperature for all these 23 fungal isolates was 4 °C, and the PEF isolates were able to biosynthesize secondary metabolite at this temperature. Extracted metabolites from PEF showed significant antiproliferative/cytotoxic, antifungal and antibacterial effects against phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria. Of special interest was their antibacterial activity against the ice-nucleation active bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. Accordingly, we suggest that evergreen Cupressaceae plants may benefit from their psychrophilic endophytic fungi during cold stress. Whether such endosymbionts confer any ecological and evolutionary benefits to their host plants remains to be investigated in vivo.     

广东肉桂内生真菌多样性及其抗肉桂枝枯病菌初步研究

本研究从广东省罗定市20年生和1年生肉桂的叶、枝、根和皮等不同器官共分离得到90株内生真菌,通过菌落特征、显微观察和ITS序列分析鉴定为2门3纲10目14科22属,其中拟盘多毛孢属Pestalotiopsis、黑孢霉属Nigrospora和间座壳属Diaporthe为优势属;肉桂内生真菌的分布存在明显的组织特异性和偏好...     

Fungal endophytes from leaves of Avicennia marina growing in semi-arid environment as a promising source for bioactive compounds

Endophytic fungi are broadly dispersed residing inside plant tissues and have been demonstrated as a treasure for bioactive natural products. Unexplored harsh and heavy metal contaminant habitat of Avicennia marina may have diverse and potential fungal association. Therefore, this work aimed to isolate the culturable fungal endophytes associated with leaves of A. marina and to evaluate their medical potentialities. Seventeen isolates of endophyte fungi were isolated from healthy leaves and their antimicrobial activities were evaluated. Results showed that isolates had activity against micro-organisms in addition to their antioxidant activity produced a variety of phenolic compounds, besides exhibited a lowest cytotoxicity against ATCC-CCL-81 cell line. Consequently, selected endophytic fungal isolates were identified genetically as Chaetomium sp., Chaetomium madrasense, Chaetomium sp., Chaetomium globosum, Aspergillus hiratsukae, Aspergillus ochraceus, Alternaria tenuissima and Curvularia lunata with gene bank accession numbers MT089951, MT089952, MT089953, MT089954, MT089955, MT089956, MT089957 and MT089958 respectively. The most potent fungus extract was analysed using Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry which verified the presence of numerous bioactive compounds. These findings confirmed that new endophytic fungal strains derived from A. marina thrive in harsh ecosystem produce bioactive metabolites which can be recommended as a novel source for drug discovery.     

The potential saprotrophic capacity of foliar endophytic fungi from Quercus gambelii

Endophytic fungi occur in living tissues of terrestrial plants. Many of these fungi are primarily biotrophic, but the trophic range of endophytic fungi as a group may not be fully appreciated. In this study, our goals were (1) for the Class 3 foliar endophytic fungi isolated from Quercus gambelii, determine their potential saprotrophic capacity, which we define as the difference in growth rate in culture on Quercus gambelii leaf litter medium and control medium lacking leaf litter and (2) quantify sources of variation among isolates of these endophytic fungi in potential saprotrophic capacity, including variation due to microsite within host trees (leaves receiving full sun vs. shade) and variation within and among fungal genera. We found that 48 of the 49 tested endophytic fungal isolates have significant potential saprotrophic capacity. Contrary to expectation, the amount of solar radiation available to the leaf from which the fungi were isolated had no significant impact on potential saprotrophic capacity and there was more variability in potential saprotrophic capacity among isolates within a genus than among genera. Our results suggest that some Class 3 endophytic fungi may have the potential to function as saprotrophic fungi within plant litter, but this remains to be seen for these Quercus gambelii isolates under more natural circumstances.     

Endophytic fungi associated with the Antarctic grass <Emphasis Type="Italic">Deschampsia antarctica</Emphasis> Desv. (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Poaceae</Emphasis>)

Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae) represents one of the two vascular plants that have colonized the Antarctic continent, which is usually exposed to extreme environmental conditions. In this work, we have characterized the endophytic fungi associated with the leaves of D. antarctica. Endophytic fungi were recovered from 91 individual plants from different points of Admiralty Bay at King George Island, Antarctica. A total of 26 fungal isolates were obtained from 273 leaf fragments. All isolates were identified by analysis of the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the rDNA. Alternaria and Phaeosphaeria were the most frequent genera associated with the plant. Other fungal isolates were identified as Entrophospora sp. and several undescribed Ascomycete species. An interesting result was obtained for the isolates UFMGCB 215 and UFMGCB 262, which were related to fungi associated with bryophytes present in boreal ecosystems. Some isolates showed low identity in the ITS sequences to sequences of fungal species deposited in GenBank, suggesting that these fungi could be new species. This work is the first report on fungal endophytes associated with leaves of the Antarctic grass D. antarctica.     

Phylogenetic reconstruction of endophytic fungal isolates using internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region

Endophytic fungi are inhabitants of plants, living most part of their lifecycle asymptomatically which mainly confer protection and ecological advantages to the host plant. In this present study, 48 endophytic fungi were isolated from the leaves of three medicinal plants and characterized based on ITS2 sequence – secondary structure analysis. ITS2 secondary structures were elucidated with minimum free energy method (MFOLD version 3.1) and consensus structure of each genus was generated by 4SALE. ProfDistS was used to generate ITS2 sequence structure based phylogenetic tree respectively. Our elucidated isolates were belonging to Ascomycetes family, representing 5 orders and 6 genera. Colletotrichum/Glomerella spp., Diaporthae/Phomopsis spp., and Alternaria spp., were predominantly observed while Cochliobolus sp., Cladosporium sp., and Emericella sp., were represented by singletons. The constructed phylogenetic tree has well resolved monophyletic groups with >50% bootstrap value support. Secondary structures based fungal systematics improves not only the stability; it also increases the precision of phylogenetic inference. Above ITS2 based phylogenetic analysis was performed for our 48 isolates along with sequences of known ex-types taken from GenBank which confirms the efficiency of the proposed method. Further, we propose it as superlative marker for reconstructing phylogenetic relationships at different taxonomic levels due to their lesser length.     

Biodiversity and distribution of endophytic fungi associated with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Panax quinquefolium</Emphasis> L. cultivated in a forest reserve

Endophytic fungi residing in Panax quinquefolium (American ginseng) have not been well characterized. We collected American ginseng of one-, two-, three- and four-year-old plants cultivated in a forest reserve and identified the endophytic fungal isolates using traditional methods. The colonization frequency and the dominant endophytic fungal species were investigated. Endophytic fungal diversity indices and similarity coefficient were also assessed and all age groups of American ginseng studied were colonized by endophytic fungal assemblages; 134 fungal isolates were assigned to 27 taxa. The infection frequencies varied with the host age and tissue. The dominant endophytic fungi were recorded for each tissue and age of host. The roots of two- and four-year-old American ginseng exhibited the highest and the lowest Shannon-Wiener index respectively. Four-year-old American ginseng had a low similarity coefficient when compared with each of the other three ages classes. The possible role of endophytic fungi in relation to American ginseng cultivation is discussed.     

植物内生拟盘多毛孢的生物多样性

内生拟盘多毛孢是植物 (尤其是木本植物 )内生真菌的重要类群。分离自红豆杉的内生小孢拟盘多毛孢(Pestalotiopsismicrospora)能产生抗癌的代谢产物紫杉醇 ,因而引起了人们对内生拟盘多毛孢研究的兴趣。拟盘多毛孢内生于植物的根、茎、叶及繁殖体中 ,已鉴定的内生拟盘多毛孢有 2 3种。在已调查的植物中 ,内生拟盘多毛孢的定殖率有很大差异 ,在红树 (Rhizophoraapiculata)、椰子 (Cocosnucifer)、西藏红豆杉 (Taxuswallichiana)、茶梅 (Camelliasasanqua)、Fragraeabodenii和Cordemoyaintegrifolia等木本植物中 ,拟盘多毛孢是内生真菌的优势类群。一种拟盘多毛孢可内生于多种植物体内 ,一种植物也可有多种拟盘多毛孢内生 ,其分布与植物所处的生态环境和地域有关。在一定的宿主植物生理条件或外界环境条件下 ,某些内生拟盘多毛孢可转变为寄生或腐生。对植物内生拟盘多毛孢代谢产物的研究表明 ,拟盘多毛孢可产生多种次生代谢产物 ,包括抗癌物质 (紫杉醇和粗榧酸 )和抗菌物质 (环己烷类物质、粗榧酸和 pestaloside)。植物内生拟盘多毛孢的资源调查和开发应用具有广阔的前景。     

Endophytic Phomopsis sp. colonization in Oryza sativa was found to result in plant growth promotion and piperine production

Endophytic fungi have been reported to have the acquired ability to synthesize host plant specific medicinal natural products. Many fungi with such properties have been characterized and optimized for the conditions which favor maximal production of desired products. However, the inherent plant colonization property of promising endophytic fungi is least studied. Exploiting the transgenome functioning of these fungi have immense applications to add beneficial features to nonhost plants. In the present study, the endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. isolated from Piper nigrum was confirmed for piperine production by HPLC and LCMS/MS. Further, the fungal isolate was studied for its colonization ability in Oryza sativa. Interestingly, the fungi treated plants were found to have significant plant growth enhancement when compared to the control. Further screening of extract from treated plants by HPLC and LCMS/MS resulted in the confirmation of presence of piperine. The observed result is extremely significant as it opens up novel applications of endophytic fungal colonization in taxonomically diverse plants.     

Study of endophytic fungal community from different parts of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aegle marmelos</Emphasis> Correae (Rutaceae) from Varanasi (India)

Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy, living, and symptomless tissues of inner bark, leaf, and roots of Aegle marmelos, a well-known medicinal plant, growing in different parts of India including Varanasi. A total of 79 isolates of endophytic fungi were isolated, representing 21 genera, adopting a standard isolation protocol. Members of the deuteromycotina were more prevalent than ascomycotina and others. The result was quite encouraging in terms of maximum isolates recovery from hyphomycetes (78.5%) followed by ascomycetes (8.9%) and coelomycetes (7.6%) respectively, which corroborates previous studies in same area. However, 5.1% isolates remained unidentified and were classified under Mycelia Sterilia. No isolate was obtained from either basidiomycotina or from zygomycotina. Fusarium spp. had maximum colonization frequency (8.00%) in this plant. The other dominant endophytic genera were Aspergillus spp., Alternaria sp., Drechslera sp., Rhizoctonia sp., Curvularia sp., Nigrospora sp., and Stenella sp. Only two ascomycetous members Chaetomium globosum and Emericella sp. (perfect state of Aspergillus sp.) were obtained from the bark sample. These results indicated that distribution of endophytic fungi within the A. marmelos is not even. Bark harbors more endophytic fungi than leaf and root.     

Endophytic fungi associated with Macrosolen tricolor and its host Camellia oleifera

Endophytic fungi play an important role in terrestrial ecosystem, while little is known about those in hemi-parasitic plants, a group of special plants which absorb nutrients from its hosts by haustoria. The relationship of the endophytes in the two parts of the bipartite systems (hemiparasites together with their hosts) is also poorly understood. Endophytic fungi of a hemi-parasitic plant Macrosolen tricolor, and its host plant Camellia oleifera were investigated and compared in this study. M. tricolor contained rich and diversified endophytic fungi (H′ = 2.829), which consisted mainly of ascomycetes, distributed in more than ten orders of four classes (Sordariomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Leotiomycetes and Eurotiomycetes) besides Incertae sedis strains (23.2 % of total). In addition, 2.2 % of isolates were identified to be Basidiomycota, all of which belonged to Agaricomycetes. Obvious differences were observed between the endophytic fungal assembles in the leaves and those in the branches of M. tricolor. The endophytic fungi isolated from C. oleifera distributed in nearly same orders of the four classes of Ascomycota and one class (Agaricomycetes) of Basidiomycota as those from M. tricolor with similar proportion. For both M. tricolor and C. oleifera, Valsa sp. was the dominant endophyte species in the leaves, Torula sp. 1 and Fusarium sp. 1 were the dominant endophytic fungi in the branches. The similarity coefficient of the endophyte assembles in the two host was 64.4 %. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the endophyte assembles of M. tricolor and C. oleifera were significantly different (p < 0.01).     

Some fungal endophytes from vegetable crops and their anti-oomycete activities against tomato late blight

AIMS: To isolate endophytic fungi from vegetable plants and examine their in vivo anti-oomycete activity against Phytophthora infestans in tomato plants. METHODS AND RESULTS: Endophytic fungi were isolated from surface-sterilized plant tissues and anti-oomycete activity was measured by in vivo assay using tomato seedlings. Endophytic fungi showing potent anti-oomycete activity were identified by morphological characteristics and nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence analysis. A total of 152 isolates were obtained from 66 healthy tissue samples of cucumber, red pepper, tomato, pumpkin and Chinese cabbage and the fermentation broths of 23 isolates showed potent in vivo anti-oomycete activity against tomato late blight with control values over 90%. The Fusarium oxysporum strain EF119, which was isolated from roots of red pepper, showed the most potent disease control efficacy against tomato late blight. In dual-culture tests, it inhibited the growth of Pythium ultimum, P. infestans and Phytophthora capsici. CONCLUSIONS: Among endophytic fungi isolated from healthy tissues of vegetable plants, F. oxysporum EF119 showed the most potent in vivo anti-oomycete activity against tomato late blight and in vitro anti-oomycete activity against several oomycete pathogens. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Endophytic fungi showing anti-oomycete activity in vitro and in vivo may be used as biocontrol agents particularly of tomato late blight.     

构树可培养内生真菌的多样性初探

构树Broussonetia papyrifera为桑科重要的资源植物。为调查逆境构树内生真菌的多样性,我们对铅锌矿区构树根、茎、叶和果实各部位进行内生真菌分离鉴定,从中分离得到187株内生真菌,根据形态学与分子生物学方法鉴定为20属,其中链格孢属Alternaria（50.27%）、镰孢属Fusarium（11.76%）为优势属。不同培养基的内生真菌分离率结果表明,马铃薯葡萄糖琼脂培养基（PDA）分离出的菌株数最多,占总数的73.96%;构树不同部位的菌株分离数目显示,叶中分离出的菌株较多,占38.02%。在属的分类水平上,根、茎、叶、果实不同部位的真菌数量也存在明显差异。Shannon-Wiener多样性指数和Simpson多样性指数分析结果提示不同样地的构树内生真菌的多样性也存在差异。Chao1指数和ACE指数也提示构树内生真菌丰富度与样地和组织有关。     

Diversity and Antimicrobial and Plant-Growth-Promoting Activities of Endophytic Fungi in Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfe

Endophytic fungi are ubiquitously distributed in orchids and have a great impact on the host plant. The diversity of endophytic fungi in the medicinal orchid Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfe was investigated and their bioactivities in microbe and plant growth were explored here. Endophytic fungi were identified by using morphological and molecular biological methods. Antimicrobial activity was determined by a standard disk assay. Activity in promoting plant growth was confirmed by root inoculation of endophytic fungi in seedling tray and pot experiments. Overall, 48 isolates were isolated from D. loddigesii and identified to belong to 18 genera, with Fusarium and Acremonium being the most dominant populations. A total of 17 isolates belonging to 9 genera were screened for their antimicrobial activity, and Fusarium spp., 8 of the 17 isolates, was also the dominant population. In the seedling tray experiment, two isolates, one of Fusarium named DL26 and the other of Pyrenochaeta named DL351, were shown to enhance plant growth in alder bark–humus medium, and the latter displayed weak activity against Bacillus subtilis (As 1.308) and Aspergillus fumigatus (As 3.2910). In the pot experiment, after inoculation of DL26 and DL351, five out of seven media were fit for plant-endophyte symbionts. Medium #1 of red brick fragments and sphagna was optimal in accelerating plant growth. In conclusion, a great diversity of endophytic fungi in D. loddigesii was first confirmed in a considerable proportion of antimicrobial isolates. Furthermore, two endophytes exhibited the ability to enhance plant growth although their activities were influenced by the growth media.     

Induction of apoptosis against cancer cell lines by four ascomycetes (endophytes) from Malaysian rainforest

Endophytic fungi have been shown to be a promising source of biologically active natural products. In the present study, extracts of four endophytic fungi isolated from plants of the National Park, Pahang were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity and the nature of their active compounds determined. Those extracts exhibiting activity with IC(50) values less than 17 μg/ml against HCT116, MCF-7 and K562 cell lines were shown to induce apoptosis in these cell lines. Molecular analysis, based on sequences of the rDNA internal transcribed spacers ITS1 and ITS4, revealed all four endophytic fungi to be ascomycetes: three sordariomycetes and a dothideomycete. Six known compounds, cytochalasin J, dechlorogriseofulvin, demethylharzianic-acid, griseofulvin, harzianic acid and 2-hexylidene-3-methyl-succinic acid were identified from a rapid dereplication technique for fungal metabolites using an in-house UV library. The results from the present study suggest the potential of endophytic fungi as cytotoxic agents, and there is an indication that the isolates contain bioactive compounds that mainly kill cancer cells by apoptosis.     

Ambuic acid, a highly functionalized cyclohexenone with antifungal activity from Pestalotiopsis spp. and Monochaetia sp

Ambuic acid, a highly functionalized cyclohexenone, was isolated and characterized from Pestalotiopsis spp. and Monochaetia sp. these being biologically related endophytic fungi associated with many tropical plant species. This compound was found in representative isolates of these fungal species obtained from rainforest plants located on several continents. The relevance of ambuic acid to the biology of the association of these fungi to their host plants is also discussed.     

Endophytic fungal diversity of 2 sand dune wild legumes from the southwest coast of India

Endophytic fungi of 3 age classes (seeds, seedlings, and mature plants) and 5 tissue classes (cotyledons, seed coats, roots, stems, and leaves) of coastal sand dune legumes Canavalia cathartica and Canavalia maritima were assessed by plating surface-sterilized segments on malt extract agar. Forty-six fungal taxa comprising 6 ascomycetes, 33 mitosporic fungi, 2 zygomycetes, and 5 sterile morphospecies were recovered. There was no significant difference in the colonization frequency of endophytes between plant species (p = 0.4098, Student's t test). Among the age classes, endophytic fungi colonized over 90% of seedlings and mature plants. Similarly, among tissue classes, endophytic fungi colonized over 90% of root, stem, and leaf segments. Diversity and richness of endophytic fungi were higher in C. cathartica than in C. maritima. Rarefaction curves revealed a "higher expected number of species" in mature plants of C. cathartica and seedlings of C. maritima, whereas it was highest in leaves of both plant species. The most dominant endophyte, Chaetomium globosum, colonized over 50% of the root, stem, and leaf segments of C. maritima and over 50% of the root segments of C. cathartica. The colonization frequency of C. globosum was found to be 5%-12.5% in seeds and increased up to 40%-64.4% in seedlings or mature plants. Halosarpheia sp. was the only marine fungus recovered among the endophytes.     

姜黄根茎内生真菌区系分析

目的了解姜黄植物根茎中内生真菌群落组成和生态分布规律。方法采用表面消毒法分别于春、冬季从姜黄植物根茎中分离内生真菌,通过形态特征和基于ITS序列的系统发育分析初步确定其分类地位。结果分离获得51株内生真菌(春季33株、冬季18株),初步鉴定其分别归于5个纲、7个目、8个科、8个属(Fusarium,Gibberel-la,Alternaria,Phomopsis,Diaporthe,Nectria,Botryosphaeria,Mucor),其中镰刀菌属(Fusarium,51.0%)和赤霉属(Gibberel-la,17.6%)为优势菌群;春季分离的内生真菌分属于7个属(分离率为82.5%),而冬季的内生真菌仅归入4个属(分离率为45.0%)。结论姜黄植物中内生真菌具有较丰富的物种和系统发育多样性,在类群组成和分布上存在季节性差异,某些内生真菌(Fusariumsp.)具有宿主偏好性。     

The endophytic fungi from wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis> L.)

In order to study the species composition of endophytes from wheat healthy plants in Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) and to determine their infection frequencies from leaves, stems, glumes and grains, wheat plants were collected from five cultivars at five growth stages from crop emergence to harvest. A total of 1,750 plant segments (leaves, stems, glumes and grains) were processed from the five wheat cultivars at five growth stages, and 722 isolates of endophytic fungi recovered were identified as 30 fungal genera. Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium herbarum, Epicoccum nigrum, Cryptococcus sp., Rhodotorula rubra, Penicillium sp. and Fusarium graminearum were the fungi that showed the highest colonization frequency (CF%) in all the tissues and organs analysed. The number of taxa isolated was greater in the leaves than those in the other organs analysed.     

小桐子内生真菌及其抗真菌活性研究

从药用植物小桐子的根和茎中分离到内生真菌57株,经鉴定,它们分属于15个不同的分类单元。其中拟盘多毛孢为优势属,其次为拟茎点霉属和茎点霉属。用杨桃炭疽菌,香蕉疫霉和镰刀菌作指示菌对这些内生真菌的抗真菌活性进行检测,结果表明,有2株菌对杨桃炭疽菌具有抑菌活性。