Yadav Garima, Meena Mukesh
Laboratory of Phytopathology and Microbial Biotechnology, Department of Botany, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, 313001, Rajasthan, India.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 11;15(1):29378. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-10980-5.
Endophytic fungi significantly influence plant health, growth, and ecological interactions, yet comprehensive insights into their diversity within medicinal plants remain limited. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of alpha and beta diversity of fungal endophytic communities residing within Wrightia tinctoria (Roxb.) R.Br., examining variations across different plant parts (leaf, stem, and bark), seasons, and geographic locations. A total of 3929 fungal isolates representing 32 morphotypes, primarily from the phylum Ascomycota, were isolated from 6075 tissue segments. Notably, Fusarium cassiae, Neocosmospora magnoliae, Xylaria rohrensis, and Pestalotiopsis papuana were globally reported as endophytes for the first time. Colonization frequency varied significantly with maximum colonization observed at location 1 (80.88%), specifically in leaf tissues (84.64%) and during the monsoon season (80.91%). Analyses of alpha and beta diversity revealed marked variations in locations, plant parts, and seasons. Beta diversity analyses further illustrated both unique and overlapping fungal communities across different conditions, supported by non-metric multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity. Principal component analysis indicated that the first two components explained 40.4% of the observed diversity variations, primarily influenced by location, plant part, and seasonal dynamics. The study concludes that fungal endophytic diversity within W. tinctoria is significantly structured by ecological factors such as plant tissue type, seasonal variation, and geographic location, emphasizing the complexity and specificity of plant-endophyte interactions.
内生真菌对植物健康、生长及生态相互作用有显著影响，然而，对于药用植物中内生真菌多样性的全面认识仍然有限。本研究首次全面分析了鸡骨常山（Wrightia tinctoria (Roxb.) R.Br.）中内生真菌群落的α多样性和β多样性，研究了不同植物部位（叶、茎和树皮）、季节及地理位置间的差异。从6075个组织片段中分离出3929株真菌菌株，代表32种形态类型，主要属于子囊菌门。值得注意的是，决明镰刀菌（Fusarium cassiae）、木兰新宇宙孢菌（Neocosmospora magnoliae）、罗氏炭角菌（Xylaria rohrensis）和巴布亚盘多毛孢（Pestalotiopsis papuana）首次被全球报道为内生真菌。定殖频率差异显著，在位置1观察到最高定殖率（80.88%），特别是在叶组织中（84.64%）和季风季节（80.91%）。α多样性和β多样性分析揭示了不同位置、植物部位和季节存在显著差异。β多样性分析进一步表明，不同条件下真菌群落既有独特性又有重叠性，这得到了基于Bray-Curtis相异度的非度量多维尺度分析和层次聚类的支持。主成分分析表明，前两个成分解释了观察到的多样性变异的40.4%，主要受位置、植物部位和季节动态影响。该研究得出结论，鸡骨常山中的内生真菌多样性受到植物组织类型、季节变化和地理位置等生态因素的显著影响，强调了植物与内生真菌相互作用的复杂性和特异性。
