Diversity studies on the endophytic fungi of Vitex negundo L.

Abstract

A total of 143 endophytic fungal isolates were recovered from 1350 bark, twig and leaf segments of Vitex negundo L. which has important traditional medicinal value in the Indian system of medicine. The isolates belonged to ascomycetes (24%), coelomycetes (21%), hyphomycetes (51%) and mycelia sterilia (4%) groups. Lasiodiplodia sp. was the dominant endophyte in all the plant parts. The endophytic taxa were identified on the basis of morphology and DNA sequence data. Twig samples harboured higher number of endophytic taxa than the bark and leaf tissues of V. negundo. Phylogenetic relationships of the endophytic fungi were estimated from the sequences of the ITS region. Our studies indicate that diverse endophytic genera are grouped into six clades with respective fungal endophytes grouped in separate clades. Keywords