Abstract
The genus Hevea is native to the Brazilian Amazon forest, and H. brasiliensis, popularly known as the rubber tree, is the main source of raw material for the production of natural rubber in the world. To characterize the fungal communities that inhabit the tissues of this species, a total of 550 endophytic fungi were isolated, of which 212 were from native trees located in the state of Acre and 338 in the state of Amazonas. These fungi were grouped into 115 OTUs. The phylum Ascomycota was dominant (93%) and the most abundant isolates belonged to the families Glomerallaceae (genus Colletotrichum), Diaporthaceae (genus Diaporthe), Nectriaceae (genus Fusarium), Hypocreaceae (genus Trichoderma), and Trichocomaceae (genus Penicillium). The diversity and richness of fungi in the state of Acre did not differ significantly between leaves, stems, and roots; however, in the state of Amazonas, the diversity was greater in the stems and roots than in the leaves. In general, the diversity of endophytic fungi was greater in the state of Acre. Comparisons between communities of fungi showed more differences between those that inhabit different tissues than in different states. Furthermore, the fungal communities of roots and stems were similar, and both these were dissimilar from leaves. Isolates identified in this study will be tested for their potential to produce metabolites of interest for industry and for the sustainable development of agribusiness.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)–Finance Code 001, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) for financing the project and for granting the scholarships, as well as the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Acre) of Acre state and the Universidade Federal do Amazonas for providing the infrastructure and the employees of these institutions for their assistance during the collection of the samples. In addition, we are grateful to Dr. Harry C. Evans (CABI Bioscience) for correcting the English grammar.
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Online Resource 1
Geographic coordinates of collection points in the states of Acre (AC) and Amazonas (AM). (DOCX 14 kb)
Online Resource 2
Taxonomic assignment of endophytic fungi isolate and their respective OTUs and accession numbers in GenBank (NCBI). All isolates identified as Phomopsis sp., Talaromyces sp. and Nodulisporium sp. in the table below, according with Genbank (NCBI), were assigned as Diaporthe sp., Penicillium sp. and Daldinia sp, respectively, in the manuscript, following the taxonomic nomenclature: one fungus, one name (Taylor 2011). (DOCX 80 kb)
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Operational taxonomic units (OTU)s and number of endophytic fungi isolated from leaf, stem and roots of rubber tree in the states of Acre and Amazonas of the Amazon forest. The OTUs identified as Phomopsis sp., Talaromyces sp. and Nodulisporium sp. in the table below, according with Genbank (NCBI), were assigned and quantified as Diaporthe sp., Penicillium sp. and Daldinia sp., respectively, in the manuscript, following the taxonomic nomenclature: one fungus, one name (Taylor 2011). (DOCX 38 kb)
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Araújo, K.S., Brito, V.N., Veloso, T.G.R. et al. Diversity and distribution of endophytic fungi in different tissues of Hevea brasiliensis native to the Brazilian Amazon forest. Mycol Progress 19, 1057–1068 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-020-01613-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-020-01613-4