Root-associated fungi of Pinus wallichiana in Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

An important factor in the performance of out-planted conifers is the association of plant roots with ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi. However, limited information is available about the diversity of root-associated EcM fungi of Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jackson, a coniferous species endemic to Himalayan forests that has hampered the reforestation programs in the area. The study was carried at three major forest areas of the Kashmir Himalaya believed to be pure stands of P. wallichiana. Fine root tips harbouring EcM fungi were collected and processed for extraction of fungal DNA, which was subsequently subjected to ITS rDNA targeted PCR–RFLP profiling. DNA sequencing analysis of the overlapping ITS amplifications followed by global nucleotide BLAST analyses of the assembled nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) revealed a total of 33 fungal taxa associated with P. wallichiana of which 23 species were EcM fungi. Of the 10 non-EcM fungi, we found a peculiar saprophytic wood decaying fungus, Chalara microchona, associated with P. wallichiana for the first time. The study not only reveals the species richness of fungi associated with this conifer but also documents new fungal associations with it, which have not been reported so far. The results in the study set a baseline for the broad association of ectomycorrhizal fungi with P. wallichiana, which may serve as guiding cue to design reforestation programs in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Community structure and functional group of root‐associated Fungi of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica across stand ages in the Mu Us Desert

“…Among other nonmycorrhizal fungi, Chalara , Ilyonectria , and Xenopolyscytalum were somewhat dominant, which was similar to the identification results of nonmycorrhizal RAF in Pinus wallichiana (Tyub et al, ). Chalara was identified as having a combined trophic mode (endophyte‐plant pathogen‐wood saprotroph) by FUNGuild.…”

Revision of root-associated microfungi of Pinus wallichiana in Kashmir Himalaya

“…provide reliable identification. Tyub et al (2018) in their study documented 33 uncultured species of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes from ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root tips of Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jackson.…”

“…These species were named after searching the GenBank for the most closely related hits on the representative ITS rDNA sequences. The majority of the species (22) belonged to ascomycetes, nine of them were classified as non-ECM members of the Helotiales and putatively interpreted as "ectomycorrhizal status not yet established" by Tyub et al (2018). From the data presented in Table 1, the species names attributed to particular sequences are suspicious, because some of them reached a percentage identity of <90%, i.e., below the most frequently used threshold of 97%-99% .…”

“…The aim of this contribution was to revise identifications of ascomycete microfungi (predominantly of the members of Helotiales) from the study of Tyub et al (2018) using simple phylogenetic tools. Corresponding sequences mentioned in the Table 1 were downloaded from the GenBank together with the most closely related sequences (both environmental samples and sequences from taxonomic studies) and aligned in Geneious v. 6.1.5 (Biomatters, Auckland, New Zealand) adopting the MUSCLE algorithm and further manually edited to increase the homology.…”

“…With the exception of three sequences (Chalara hyalocuspica, Phialocephala sp., and Microscypha sp. ), the remaining 14 names given to particular records by Tyub et al (2018) are erroneous (Table 1). This applies also to trophic statuses of these putatively identified species that, in most cases, are unknown (because the identification was possible to the genus only).…”