Fungal diversity on fallen leaves of Ficus in northern Thailand

Abstract

Fallen leaves of Ficus altissima, F. virens, F. benjamina, F. fistulosa and F. semicordata, were collected in Chiang Mai Province in northern Thailand and examined for fungi. Eighty taxa were identified, comprising 56 anamorphic taxa, 23 ascomycetes and 1 basidiomycete. Common fungal species occurring on five host species with high frequency of occurrence were Beltraniella nilgirica, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Ophioceras leptosporum, Periconia byssoides and Septonema harknessi. Colletotrichum and Stachybotrys were also common genera. The leaves of different Ficus species supported diverse fungal taxa, and the fungal assemblages on the different hosts showed varying overlap. The fungal diversity of saprobes at the host species level is discussed.

Fungos Conidiais Em Folhedo De Mata Atlântica Na Reserva Biológica De Una, Bahia, Brasil

“…Pesquisas anteriores em ecossistemas florestais também demonstram a nítida variação do número de táxons no folhedo de espécies vegetais distintas (Parungao et al, 2002;Wang et al, 2008;Barbosa et al, 2009;Magalhães et al, 2011), demonstrando que, além dos fatores edafoclimáticos, as características intrínsecas (textura e espessura foliar, composição química, entre outras) dos hospedeiros vegetais também influenciam na comunidade de microfungos.…”

Molecular Phylogenetic Identification of Plant-pathogenic Fungi Isolated from Two Medicinal Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz Species

“…However, molecular analysis alone also has limitations. It cannot overcome the problem of over-isolating fast growing fungal species at the expense of slow growing taxa, nor isolating species that will not grow in culture (Duong et al, 2006, Hyde andSoytong, 2008). The use of ITS sequences also has limitations in phylogenetic analysis.…”

“…Because the noncoding ITS sequence is fast evolving with many variable characters, it is usually difficult to achieve a perfect sequence alignment at high taxonomic levels. Moreover, it has been shown that 20-30% of sequences downloaded from GenBank for comparative analysis may not be accurate in their identification (Nilsson et al, 2006, Hyde andSoytong, 2008)). This inaccuracy in the database may have contributed to some of the unexpected observations in our study, such as F. lateritium and G. zeae all having their accessions scattered across the phylogenetic tree, whereas some different species (e.g., species of F. culmorum and G. zeae) being clustered within the same clade.…”

“…This represents an important genetic resource for biotechnology study. Plant-pathogenic fungi, especially the fungi colonizing medicinal plants, can produce secondary metabolites which have been recognized as potential sources for agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial uses (Strobel andDaisy, 2003, Hyde andSoytong, 2008). In recent years, plant pathogenic fungi biodiversity, the bioactivity of pathogenic fungi metabolites and the host-pathogen relationship have been received more attention.…”

“…A.macrocephala can invigorate the spleen, and cure patients with anorexia, excessive perspiration, oedema, splenic asthenia, and abnormal fetal movement (Junhao et al, 1996, Hong et al, 2005. Several recent studies have shown that genetic methods can be successfully used in the studies of pathogenic fungi Arnold, 2007;Poulsen et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2005;Morakotkarn et al, 2007;Huang et al, 2008); DNA-based techniques, particularly PCR can detect minute quantities of a pathogen. These methods have provided new opportunities to study and understand, for example, the biology of plant pathogenic fungi, pathogen population structure and dynamics, host-pathogen interactions, etc.…”