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. 2022 Nov 14;8(11):1197.
doi: 10.3390/jof8111197.

Endophytic Fungi Associated with Aquilaria sinensis (Agarwood) from China Show Antagonism against Bacterial and Fungal Pathogens

Tian-Ye Du  1   2   3 , Samantha C Karunarathna  1 , Xian Zhang  1 , Dong-Qin Dai  1 , Ausana Mapook  2 , Nakarin Suwannarach  4 , Jian-Chu Xu  5 , Steven L Stephenson  6 , Abdallah M Elgorban  7 , Salim Al-Rejaie  8 , Saowaluck Tibpromma  1
Affiliations

Endophytic Fungi Associated with Aquilaria sinensis (Agarwood) from China Show Antagonism against Bacterial and Fungal Pathogens

Tian-Ye Du et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

Agarwood is the most expensive non-construction wood product in the world. As a therapeutic agent, agarwood can cure some diseases, but few studies have been carried out on the antagonistic abilities of endophytic fungi associated with agarwood. Agarwood is mainly found in the genus Aquiaria. The objectives of this study are to understand the antimicrobial activities and their potential as biocontrol agents of the endophytic fungi of Aquilaria sinensis. First, fresh samples of A. sinensis were collected from Yunnan and Guangdong Provinces in 2020-2021, and the endophytic fungi were isolated and identified to genus level based on the phylogenetic analyses of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region. In this bioassay, 47 endophytic strains were selected to check their bioactivities against three bacterial pathogens viz. Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae, and Salmonella enterica; and three fungal pathogens viz. Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, and Penicillium digitatum. The antibiosis test was carried out by the dual culture assay (10 days), and among the 47 strains selected, 40 strains belong to 18 genera viz. Alternaria, Annulohypoxylon, Aspergillus, Botryosphaeria, Colletotrichum, Corynespora, Curvularia, Daldinia, Diaporthe, Fusarium, Lasiodiplodia, Neofusicoccum, Neopestalotiopsis, Nigrospora, Paracamarosporium, Pseudopithomyces, Trichoderma, Trichosporon and one strain belongs to Xylariaceae had antimicrobial activities. In particular, Lasiodiplodia sp. (YNA-D3) showed the inhibition of all the bacterial and fungal pathogens with a significant inhibition rate. In addition, the strains viz; Curvularia sp. (GDA-3A9), Diaporthe sp. (GDA-2A1), Lasiodiplodia sp. (YNA-D3), Neofusicoccum sp. (YNA-1C3), Nigrospora sp. (GDA-4C1), and Trichoderma sp. (YNA-1C1) showed significant antimicrobial activities and are considered worthy of further studies to identify individual fungal species and their bioactive compounds. This study enriches the diversity of endophytic fungi associated with agarwood, and their potential antagonistic effects against bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Keywords: Lasiodiplodia; agarwood; antibacterial activities; antifungal activities; antimicrobial activities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A RAxML single gene phylogenetic tree of 47 endophytic fungi strains and their related sequences based on ITS. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (ML) equal to or higher than 50% are indicated above the branches. The endophytic fungi with original strain numbers isolated in this study are marked with red font.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dual culture assay. Left: pathogen. Right: endophytic fungus. (a–c) Endophytic fungi dominate against the pathogenic fungus PF2. (d,e) Endophytic fungi dominate against pathogenic fungus PF3. (f) Endophytic fungi dominate against pathogenic bacterium PB1. (g,h) Endophytic fungi dominate against pathogenic bacterium PB2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Inhibition rate of 25 endophytic fungi to three pathogenic bacteria. The inhibition ≥60% is considered a good inhibition effect.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Inhibition rate of 40 endophytic fungi to three pathogenic fungi. The inhibition ≥60% is considered a good inhibition effect.
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