Open AccessHigh diversity of endophytic fungi from the pharmaceutical plant, Heterosmilax japonica Kunth revealed by cultivation‐independent approach
Author(s) -
Gao XiaoXia,
Zhou Hui,
Xu DaiYing,
Yu ChunHong,
Chen YueQin,
Qu LiangHu
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsle.2005.06.017
Subject(s) - biology , plant use of endophytic fungi in defense , botany , diversity (politics) , japonica , fungal diversity , political science , law
Heterosmilax japonica Kunth is well recognized for its diuretic effects in China. However, little is known about its endophytic fungi. In this study, microbial communities inhabiting the stems of H. japonica in spring and summer were investigated by light microscopy and cultivation‐independent approaches, such as RFLP analysis and sequencing of rDNA ITS library. Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that a broad spectrum of fungi, including Mycosphaerella , Phomopsis , Aureobasidium , Cladosporium , Glomerella , Botryosphaeria , Guignardia , is able to colonize the plants internally. Particularly, several rDNA sequences determined in this study like YJ4‐61 are not specifically affiliated with any currently documented fungal sequences in the public database. Several sequence types, such as YJ4‐9 and YJ4–70, are significantly similar to some uncultured environmental samples. Furthermore, our result also showed that the samples collected in spring harbored more abundant endophytic populations than that in summer, implying a seasonal fluctuation for the endophytes in H. japonica .