Geographic and Tissue Influences on Endophytic Fungal Communities of Taxus chinensis var. mairei in China

Abstract

Endophytc fungi were collected from the barks, branches and leaves of Taxus chinensis var. mairei from the Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Chongqing regions of China and their influences on geographic and tissue investigated. A total of 145 fungal taxa were identified based on molecular techniques, of these 125 taxa (86.2 %) belonging to Ascomycota, 14 (9.7 %) to Basidiomycota, 5 (3.4 %) to Zygomycota, and 1 (0.7 %) to undefined fungi. The species richness and diversity of endophytic fungi were significantly affected by tissue, and were 1.2-2.5-fold higher in the branches and barks when compared to the leaves. The locality affected the species richness per tree and the shannon diversity index per tree by longitude. The endophyte assemblages were strongly shaped by locality and tissue according to partial least squares discriminant analysis. In addition, the distributions of dominant fungi at orders and genera levels differed as a function of locality and tissue. Most of the dominant taxa showed spatial heterogeneity and tissue specificity or preference and many fungal taxa with low frequency were special to one locality or one tissue.

Diversity and Communities of Foliar Endophytic Fungi from Different Agroecosystems of Coffea arabica L. in Two Regions of Veracruz, Mexico

“…These differences could influence the EF diversity of those plantations. Some studies have reported that Shannon's diversity index of EF increases when the longitude decreases [80]; this finding is consistent with our results for Huatusco and Coatepec. In the other hand, in Veracruz, there is also a higher diversity of other organisms, such as small- and medium-sized mammals [81] in the rustic Huatusco plantations than in the simple polycultures of Huatusco, and in the different agroforestry systems of Coatepec.…”

Diversity, distribution and biotechnological potential of endophytic fungi

“…Investigation of endophytic fungi communities of Taxus chinensis var. mairei, distributed in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Chongqing regions of China, gave similar results (Wu et al 2013b). Endophytic fungi of the same plant species in the same area are basically similar, but for some fungi, the abundance and distribution differs with the age and the tissue of plants (Arnold and Herre 2003;Mei et al 2014).…”

Phylogenic diversity and tissue specificity of fungal endophytes associated with the pharmaceutical plant, Stellera chamaejasme L. revealed by a cultivation-independent approach

“…The ability of many endophytes to protect plants from herbivores by producing toxins, improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress or confer resistance to plant pathogens is known to all (Hyde and Soytong 2008). Some previous studies of endophytic fungi concentrated on plant leaves (Botella and Diez 2011;Koukol et al 2012;Sánchez Márquez et al 2007), roots (Keim et al 2014), or above-ground tissues of host plants (Kusari et al 2013;Wu et al 2013), and a few studies have compared the endophytic fungi between aboveground and below-ground of plant organs (Sánchez Márquez et al 2010;Su et al 2010;Vujanovic et al 2012;Jiang et al 2013;Zhang et al 2014). Although the ubiquity of endophytic fungi in plants, the ecological significance of these symbionts, including their contribution to plant fitness and adaptation, the way in which endophytes interact with the host and the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial attributes of colonization still remain unclear (García et al 2013).…”

“…Strobel and Daisy (2003) indicated that areas of high biodiversity and with high numbers of endemic plant species may hold the most potential for endophytes with novel chemistry. However, only a few of the medicinal Chinese plants were studied as a source of bioactive endophytic fungal communities (Wu et al 2013). However, only a few of the medicinal Chinese plants were studied as a source of bioactive endophytic fungal communities (Wu et al 2013).…”