Diversity of fungal endophytes from the medicinal plant Dendropanax arboreus in a protected area of Mexico

With the aim of studying the biodiversity and the biotechnological potential of endophytic fungi associated with the medicinal plant Dendropanax arboreus, 45 fungal isolates were recovered from ten plants grown at the “El Cielo” Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Based on the sequence analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and the observation of morphological traits, the isolates were grouped into 28 genotypes corresponding to 14 genera with a predominance of Fusarium, Phomopsis, Alternaria, and Colletotrichum species. Enzymatic activity assays revealed numerous isolates as having xylanase (66.6 %), cellulase (57.1 %), pectinase (51.2 %), and amylase (20.9 %) activities. Only the isolate Paecilomyces sp. HER3-5 exhibited chitinase and chitosanase activities, and only the unidentified isolate HET1-5 had phosphate solubilization capacity. Isolates of five fungal genera had antimicrobial activity against at least one among the Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Candida glabrata target strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the endophytic fungi of D. arboreus, and provides evidence that: (1) endophytes commonly produce enzymes associated with the colonization process (xylanases, cellulases, and pectinases), while enzymes associated with pathogenic infection (amylases) or phosphate solubilization were relatively rare; (2) isolates of the genera Corynespora, Endomelanconiopsis, and Thozetella are potential sources of novel antimicrobial compounds; and (3) distinctive endophytic fungal communities occur in different plant tissues (the root, trunk, and leaf), but this was less evident in the sampling sites (elevation).