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Diversity and ecological distribution of endophytic fungi associated with medicinal plants

Authors Sun JianQiu; Guo LiangDong; Zang Wei; Ping WenXiang; Chi DeFu

Journal SCIENCE IN CHINA SERIES C-LIFE SCIENCES , AUG 2008,8:51

DOI 10.1007/s11427-008-0091-z PubMed 18677603

Abstract A total of 973 isolates of endophytic fungi were recovered from 1144 tissue fragments of the six medicinal plant species belonging to 4 families collected in the Beijing Botanical Garden. Of these isolates 778 sporulated and were identified into 21 taxa by morphological characteristics. Among the taxa 11 belonged to Coelomycetes, 6 to Ascomycetes, and 4 to Hyphomycetes. Various numbers of endophytic fungi (5-8 taxa) were obtained from each plant. Alternaria alternata was the dominant species in the 6 plants, and Microsphaeropsis conielloides was also dominant in Eucommia ulmoides. There were high colonization rates (47.9%-63.1%) and isolation rates (0.7-0.93) of endophytic fungi, and they were conspicuously higher in twigs than those in leaves in the 6 plants examined. The colonization and isolation rates of endophytic fungi increased with the twig age. The results based on the analyses of cluster and Sorenson''s similarity coefficients indicated that some endophytic fungi showed a certain degree of host and tissue preference.

Species covered 杜仲 Eucommia ulmoides