Species Diversity, Distribution, and Genetic Structure of Endophytic and Epiphytic Trichoderma Associated with Banana Roots

Selective isolation, molecular identification and AFLP were used to investigate the distribution of the various species of endophytic and epiphytic Trichoderma associated with banana roots and to compare and contrast their genetic structure. Three specific groups of Trichoderma were observed in the roots of banana. Group one, which made up the largest population, comprised T. asperellum, T. virens, and Hypocrea lixii, which were isolated from both inside and on the surface of the banana roots, while group two, made up of T. atroviride and T. koningiopsis, existed on the surface only. Group three, comprising only T. brevicompactum was isolated from the inside of the roots. The AFLP analysis revealed Nei's diversity indices of 0.15 and 0.26 for epiphytic T. asperellum and T. virens, respectively. The index values of 0.11 and 0.11 were obtained for endophytic T. asperellum and T. virens, respectively. The genetic diversity within endophytic T. asperellum and T. virens was lower than that within the epiphytes. This suggests that endophytic Trichoderma has a higher genetic conservation and is compatible with the relatively stable microenvironments inside roots.