94 Y. M. Hokama, D. C. Savi, B. Assad et al.
Grosso do Sul, Brazil. This study is the first to explore the diversity of
endophytic fungi in the medicinal plant Vochysia divergens, found in the
Pantanal. In total, 77 isolates were identified by ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 rDNA
sequencing and phylogenetic analysis as belonging to the genera
Antrodia, Irpex, Peniophora, Phyllosticta, Neofusicoccum,
Pseudofusicoccum, Polyporus, Daldinia, Nigrospora, Colletotrichum,
Diaporthe, Lanceispora, Cladosporium, Phaeosphaeria, and
Annellosympodiella. Nineteen isolates were identified as belonging to the
Xylariaceae family, and our data indicate that these isolates are members
of a new genus in this family. We also explored the antifungal activity of
three isolates, two of which belong to the family Xylariaceae
(LGMF1119 and LGMF1133) and one belongs to the genus Nigrospora
(LGMF1121) that inhibited Phyllosticta citricarpa mycelium growth and
pycnidia formation in vitro assays.Keywords: Vochysia divergens, pantanal, biodiversity, endophytes,
Phyllosticta citricarpa, biological control
INTRODUCTION
Endophytic fungi inhabit a unique biological niche, because of their
ability to asymptomatically colonize plant tissues (Jia et al. 2016). It is
estimated that there are more than 420,000 plant species in nature; however,
the endophytic community has only been catalogued in a few of these.
According to Chowdhary et al. (2015) the diversity of fungal endophytes is
7% out of total of 1.5 million fungi on earth. Endophytic fungi are important
because of their capacity to produce structurally and biologically unique
natural products (Strobel et al. 2004; Gunatilaka 2006; Glienke et al. 2012;
Chowdhary et al. 2015). To increase our knowledge of fungal diversity, as
well as to describe new species, plants that live in peculiar habitats are a
promising source for the exploration of endophytes.
Our group is mainly interested in exploring the endophytic communities
of medicinal plants located in the Brazilian Pantanal. The Pantanal is a
floodplain of more than 140,000 km², located in central South America,
mainly in Brazil with some extensions into Paraguay and Bolivia (Arruda et al.
2016). The Pantanal harbors diverse flora and fauna, resulting from its unusual