ItemArticle

Diversity of Endophytic Fungi in Plant Species: Traditional vs. High-Throughput Sequencing Approaches

Title
Diversity of Endophytic Fungi in Plant Species: Traditional vs. High-Throughput Sequencing Approaches
Creator
Thangavel, Myithili; Sneha, Michael Joe Xavier; Mani, Israel; Surendrababu, Akash; Rajapriya, Pandy; Arulselvan, Palanisamy; Alarfaj, Abdullah A.; Thangavelu, Indumathi; Pandi, Mohan
Description
The plant microbiome significantly impacts plant life, with fungi playing a crucial role in shaping interactions and classifications. Advances in cultivation technologies have refined fungal classification, and research highlights the vital connection between endophytic fungi and their plant hosts. The present study employs morphological and phylogenetic techniques, predicting the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) secondary structure and using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data to detect fungal endophytes in plant leaves via both traditional and conventional approaches. The research area, with its hot semi-arid environment and red and black soils, supports drought-resistant plants like Senna auriculata, Ziziphus mauritiana, and Catunaregam spinosa, known for their medicinal properties. These plants, rich in antioxidants, play a vital role in traditional medicine and highlight the region's rich ethno-botanical heritage. The culture-dependent study on the foliage yielded a total of 17 isolates from S. auriculata and 16 each from both C. spinosa and Z. mauritiana. The most common genera, Alternaria and Nigrospora, account for 18.3% of all isolated endophytic fungi. Three plants were colonized with Nigrospora and Lasiodiplodia, and their morphotypes were determined using ITS2 secondary structure prediction. Recent ecological studies highlight unculturable taxa, or dark taxa, where many species cannot sporulate or be cultured, emphasizing the need for High - Throughput Sequencing (HTS) approaches. The study gathered 68,791 reads from S. auriculata with 101 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), 58,620 from C. spinosa with 219 OTUs, and 66,087 from Z. mauritiana with 193 OTUs, with the majority of OTUs related to Colletotrichum (69%) and a minimum of Myrmaecium (2%). A total of 49 fungal isolates were obtained from traditional methods, whereas 513 fungal OTUs were retrieved through HTS methods, confirming the presence of a highly abundant fungus population in plant samples. The study reveals that using the ITS short amplicon sequencing technique provides distinct insights into endophytic fungal communities in three plant samples. In conclusion, analyzing plant fungal components using a combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques may be a novel strategy. 2025 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.
Source
Chemistry and Biodiversity;Volume;22;Issue;6;Article No.;e202402792;
Date
01-01-2025
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subject
amplicon; Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS); metagenomic; Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU); phylogenetic
Coverage
Thangavel M., Department of Molecular Microbiology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India; Sneha M.J.X., Department of Molecular Microbiology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India; Mani I., Department of Molecular Microbiology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India; Surendrababu A., Department of Molecular Microbiology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India; Rajapriya P., Department of Zoology, M.S.S. Wakf Board College, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India; Arulselvan P., Department of Biochemistry, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education (Deemed to be University), Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, India; Alarfaj A.A., Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Thangavelu I., Department of Chemistry, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India; Pandi M., Department of Molecular Microbiology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, Madurai, India
Rights
Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library
Relation
ISSN: 16121872; CODEN: CBHIA
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Thangavel, Myithili; Sneha, Michael Joe Xavier; Mani, Israel; Surendrababu, Akash; Rajapriya, Pandy; Arulselvan, Palanisamy; Alarfaj, Abdullah A.; Thangavelu, Indumathi; Pandi, Mohan, “Diversity of Endophytic Fungi in Plant Species: Traditional vs. High-Throughput Sequencing Approaches,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 18, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/21758.

Output Formats