Functional Characterization of Endophytic Fungal Community Associated with Oryza sativa L. and Zea mays L.

Abstract

In a natural ecosystem, the plant is in a symbiotic relationship with beneficial endophytes contributing huge impact on its host plant. Therefore, exploring beneficial endophytes and understanding its interaction is a prospective area of research. The present work aims to characterize the fungal endophytic communities associated with healthy maize and rice plants and to study the deterministic factors influencing plant growth and biocontrol properties against phytopathogens, viz, Pythium ultimum, Sclerotium oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani, and Pyricularia oryzae. A total of 123 endophytic fungi was isolated using the culture-dependent approach from different tissue parts of the plant. Most dominating fungal endophyte associated with both the crops belong to genus Fusarium, Sarocladium, Aspergillus, and Penicillium and their occurrence was not tissue specific. The isolates were screened for in vitro plant growth promotion, stress tolerance, disease suppressive mechanisms and based on the results, each culture from both the cereal crops was selected for further study. Acremonium sp. (ENF 31) and Penicillium simplicisssum (ENF22), isolated from maize and rice respectively could potentially inhibit the growth of all the tested pathogens with 46.47 ± 0.16 mm to 60.09 ± 0.04 mm range zone of inhibition for ENF31 and 35.48 ± 0.14 to 62.29 ± 0.15 mm for ENF22. Both significantly produce the defensive enzymes, ENF31 could tolerate a wide range of pH from 2 to 12, very important criteria, for studying plant growth in different soil types, especially acidic as it is widely prevalent here, making more land unsuitable for cultivation. ENF22 grows in pH range 3–12, with 10% salt tolerating ability, another factor of consideration. Study of root colonization during 7th to 30th days of growth phase reveals that ENF31 could colonize pleasantly in rice, though a maize origin, ranging from 1.02 to 1.21 log10 CFU/g root and in maize, it steadily colonizes ranging from 0.95 to 1.18 log10 CFU, while ENF22 could colonize from 0.98 to 1.24 Log10CFU/g root in rice and 1.01 to 1.24Log10CFU/g root in maize, just the reverse observed in Acremonium sp. Therefore, both the organism has the potency of a promising Bio-resource agent, that we must definitely explore to fill the gap in the agriculture industry.

Fungal endophytes promote the accumulation of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in Lycoris radiata

“…The results for L . radiata are consistent with the perspective that the composition of fungal endophytes in different organs of most plants is quite different (Kumar and Hyde, ; Mishra et al ., ; Wearn et al ., ; Clay et al ., ; Potshangbam et al ., ). It has already been explained that some defensive factors in planta , such as plant secondary metabolites, can regulate the colonization and growth of fungal endophytes in different plant organs (Saunders and Kohn, ).…”

“…radiata (Fig. ); similar results have been described in many other plants (Kumar and Hyde, ; Mishra et al ., ; Wearn et al ., ; Clay et al ., ; Potshangbam et al ., ). This may be because the diverse physiological status of different organs leads to different conditions for fungal endophytes (Aly et al ., ).…”

“…Among these fungal strains, members in the genera Fusarium, Gibberella, Phyllosticta, Colletotrichum, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Phoma, Glomerella and Diaporthe are widely distributed in nature and have a high spore production (Mishra et al, 2012), which give them more chances to colonize a wide range of plants (Schulz and Boyle, 2005;Aly et al, 2011;Zheng et al, 2016). Moreover, species in Galactomyces (Clay et al, 2016), Cylindrocarpon (Wearn et al, 2012), Stagonosporopsis (Cui et al, 2015) and Sarocladium (Potshangbam et al, 2017) have been observed as fungal endophytes in specific plants. In particular, Penicillium sp.…”

Diversity and bioactivities of fungal endophytes from Distylium chinense, a rare waterlogging tolerant plant endemic to the Three Gorges Reservoir

“…Accumulated evidence has confirmed that plant endophytes from special orextreme environment has many effects on host ecological adaptability [3][4][5]. It is well known that the concurrence of endophytes may accelerate plant growth and increase the survival rate of biotic or abioticstresses, such as plant diseases, pests, drought, salinity and extreme temperatures [6][7][8][9]. Specifically, some endophytes are beneficial to plants by producing special substances, such as secondary metabolites, which can prevent the host from being attacked successfully by fungi and pests [10].…”

Diversity and bioactivities of fungal endophytes from Distylium chinense, a rare waterlogging tolerant plant endemic to the Three Gorges Reservoir

“…Accumulated evidence has confirmed that plant endophytes from special or extreme environment has many effects on host ecological adaptability [3][4][5]. It is well known that the concurrence of endophytes may accelerate plant growth and increase the survival rate of biotic or abiotic stresses, such as plant diseases, pests, drought, salinity and extreme temperatures [6][7][8][9]. Specifically, some endophytes are beneficial to plants by producing special substances, such as secondary metabolites, which can prevent the host from being attacked successfully by fungi and pests [10].…”