Diversity of Fungal Endophyte from Spines of Rattan Palm (Calamus castaneus)

Diversity of Fungal Endophyte from Spines of Rattan Palm (Calamus castaneus)

     Nurul Farizah Azuddin, Masratul Hawa Mohd, Nik Fadzly Nik Rosely, Asyraf Mansor, and Latiffah Zakaria*

                    School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia.

                                                                   *Email: Lfah@usm.my

Endophytic fungi (n = 108) were isolated from spines of Calamus castaneus, one of the most common wild rattan palms in Malaysian tropical forests.  Identification of the fungal endophytes was performed using molecular method and phylogenetic analysis. Five species of Colletotrichum, C. horii, C. siamense, C. fructicola, C. endophytica, C. boninense and C. cliviae were identified. Diaporthe species were phylogenetically identified as D. arengae, D. hongkongensis, D. cf. heveae 2, D. cf. nobilis, D. arecae, D. tectonae and Diaporthe spp. Two species of Phyllosticta (P. capitalensis and P. carochloae), Trichoderma (T. harzianum and T. koningiopsis), Penicillium (P. indicum and P. oxalicum), Helminthosporium (H. endiandrea and H. livistonae) and Neopestalotiopsis (N. saprophytica and N. formicarum) were also identified. Four species of Fusarium were identified as F. lateritium, F. decemcellulare, F. oxysporum and F. solani. Other species isolated from the spines were Arthrinium urticae, Acrocalymma fici, Acremonium hennebertii, Bionectria pityrodes, Cyphellophora guyanensis, Cladosporium halotolerans, Curvularia lunata, Endomelanconiopsis endophytica, Mycoleptodiscus indicus, Nemania primolutea, Pidoplitchkoviella terricola and Xylaria cubensis. The results indicated spines of Calamus castaneus harbour diverse groups of fungi comprising Ascomycetes and non-sporulating fungi.