Abstract
Nepeta rtanjensis (Lamiaceae) is an endemic and critically endangered plant species that grows only on Rtanj Mountain in the southeastern Serbia. Due to its endemic character and distribution separated from the other Nepeta species in Mediterranean Basin, N. rtanjensis has been considered as a relict. It has been noticed that number of individual plants in natural habitat rapidly decreases. Hence, the project of reintroduction of this plant was successfully conducted. However, many aspects of its biology still remain unknown and necessary to investigate. In that sense, epiphytic and endophytic Nepeta rtanjensis phyllosphere fungi were studied at three sites in Serbia: Javor—Locus classicus, with autochthonous population and with reintroduced plants, and Belgrade with micropropagated specimens in experimental field. The sites in Javor are located in the area of the Mountain Rtanj. From both, the surface and the interior of leaves, a total of 49 taxa of microfungi were identified, belonging to 35 genera. Alternaria spp. was reported on all studied sites with the highest isolation frequency (>75 %). Similarity between epiphytic and endophytic fungal assemblage was moderate. The highest fungal diversity was detected on site with the autochthonous Nepeta rtanjensis population. Phyllosphere mycobiota show the presence of a large number of viable propagules, with a low frequency of occurrence of symptoms, due to the specific anatomy of the leaf and a well-developed indumentum.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth GC, Sparrow FK, Sussman AS (1973) The fungi. The taxonomic review with keys: ascomycetes and fungi imperfecti. Academic Press, New York
Alhubaishi AA, Abdel-Kader MI (1991) Phyllosphere and phylloplane fungi of qat in Sanaa Yemen Arab Republic. J Basic Microbiol 31:83–89
Andrews JH, Hirano SS (1991) Microbial ecology of leaves. Springer, New York
Aneja KR (2003) Experiments in microbiology, plant pathology and biotechnology. New Age International Publications Limited, New Delhi
Arnold AE, Lutzoni F (2007) Diversity and host range of foliar fungal endophytes: are tropical leaves biodiversity hotspots? Ecology 88:541–549
Bills GF, Polishook JD (1994) Abundance and diversity of microfungi on leaf litter of lowland rain forest in Costa Rica. Mycologia 86:187–198
Butler JM, Day AW (1998) Fungal melanins: a review. Can J Microbiol 44:1115–1136
Clay K, Schardl C (2002) Evolutionary origins and ecological consequences of endophyte symbiosis with grasses. Am Nat 160:S99–S127
Ellis MB, Ellis PJ (1997) Microfungi on land plants: an identification handbook. The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd., Slough
Fisher PJ, Petrini O, Sutton BC (1983) A comparative study of fungal endophytes in leaves, xylem and bark of Eucalyptus in Australia and England. Sydowia 45:338–345
Garcia D, Stchigel AM, Cano J, Guarro J, Hawksworth DL (2004) A synopsis and re-circumscription of Neurospora (syn. Gelasinospora) based on ultrastructural and 28s rRNA sequence data. Mycol Res 108:1119–1142
Hawksworth DL (2001) The magnitude of fungal diversity: the 1.5 million species estimate revisited. Mycol Res 105:1422–1432
Hudson JH (1992) Fungal Biology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Inácio J, Pereira P, de Carvalho M, Fonseca Á, Amaral-Collaço MT, Spencer-Martinius I (2002) Estimation and diversity of phylloplane mycobiota on selected plants in Mediterranean-type ecosystem in Portugal. Microb Ecol 44:344–353
Jaklitsch WM, Samuels GJ, Dodd SL, Lu B-S, Druzhinina IS (2006) Hypocrea rufa/Trichoderma viride: a reassessment, and description of five closely related species with and without warted conidia. Stud Mycol 56:135–177
Kayini A, Pandey RR (2010) Phyllosphere fungi of Alnus nepalensis, Castanopsis hystrix and Schima wallichii in a subtropical forest of North East India. J Am Sci 6:118–124
Khan R, Shahzad S, Choudhary MI, Khan SA, Ahmad A (2010) Communities of endophytic fungi in medicinal plant Withania somnifera. Pak J Bot 42:1281–1287
Krebs CJ (1999) Ecological methodology, 2nd edn. A Wesley Longman, New York
Lević J (2008) Vrste roda Fusarium. Institut za kukuruz „Zemun polje“, Beograd i Društvo genetičara Srbije, Beograd
Lindow SE, Brandl MT (2003) Microbiology of the phyllosphere. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:1875–1883
Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Croom Helm Ltd., London
Mišić D, Ghalawenji N, Grubišić D, Konjević R (2005) Micropropagation and reintroduction of Nepeta rtanjensis, an endemic and critically endangered perennial of Serbia. Phyton 45:9–20
Morton FJ, Smith G (1963) The genera Scopulariopsis Bainier, Microascus Zukal and Doratomyces Corda. Mycol Pap 86:1–96
Naik BS, Shashikala J, Krishnamurthy YL (2008) Diversity of fungal endophytes in shrubby medicinal plants of Malnad region, Western Ghats, Southern India. Fungal Ecol 1:89–93
Osono T, Mori A (2004) Distribution of phyllosphere fungi within the canopy of giant dogwood. Mycoscience 45:161–168
Pandey RR, Arora DK, Dubey RC (1993) Antagonistic interaction between fungal pathogen and phylloplane fungi of guava. Mycopathologia 124:31–39
Perez JL, French JV, Summy KR, Baines AD, Little CR (2009) Fungal phyllosphere communities are altered by indirect interactions among trophic levels. Microb Ecol 57:766–774
Samson RA, Houbraken J, Thrane U, Frisvad JC, Andersen B (2010) Food and indoor fungi. CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht
Stevanović V (1999) The red data book of flora of Serbia I: extinct and critically endangered taxa. Institute for Protection of Nature of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade
Sutton BC (1980) The Coelomycetes: fungi imperfecti with pycnidia, acervuli and stromata. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, England
Tulloch M (1972) The genus Myrothecium. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, England
Unamuno PLM (1941) Enumeracion y distribucion geografica de los ascomicetos de la Peninsula Iberica y de las Islas Baleares. Meme Real Acad Sci Exact Madrid 8:81–403
Watanabe T (2002) Soil and seed fungi. Morphologies of cultured fungi and key to species. CRC press, London
Yanna Ho WH, Hyde KD (2002) Fungal succession on fronds of Phoenix hanceana in Hong Kong. Fungal Divers 10:185–211
Acknowledgments
This work is a part of research realized within the project No.173032 financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Dragoljub Grubišić: deceased.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grbić, M.L., Stupar, M., Unković, N. et al. Diversity of microfungi associated with phyllosphere of endemic Serbian plant Nepeta rtanjensis Diklić & Milojević. Braz. J. Bot 38, 597–603 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-015-0150-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-015-0150-1