Diversity of endophytic fungal and bacterial communities in Ilex paraguariensis grown under field conditions

Abstract

The composition and diversity of the endophytic community associated with aerial organs of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) was investigated using culture-depending methods. Fungal and bacterial endophytes were isolated from young and adult leaves and branches of three yerba mate clones growing under field condition in Corrientes province, Argentina. Fungi were identified based on their micromorphological characteristics and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA sequence analysis; for bacteria 16S rDNA sequence analysis was used. A total of 156 fungal and 193 bacterial isolates were obtained. Bacteria predominated in stem samples while leaf samples retrieved similar amount of bacterial and fungal isolates. No significant differences were found in isolate quantity nor diversity among seasons or between young and older leaves and stems. The most frequently isolated fungus was Fusarium, followed by Colletotrichum; they were both present in all the sampling seasons and organ types assayed. Other 12 fungus genera were identified including Aspergillus, Cercospora, Clonostachys (Bionectria), Curvularia, Guignardia, Microsphaeropsis, Neofusicoccum, Nigrospora, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Phomopsis (Diaporthe), and Phyllosticta. Actinobacteria represented 61% of all bacterial isolates. The most dominant bacterial taxa were Curtobacterium and Microbacterium. They were isolated from all the organs assayed, showing that they are ubiquitous endophytes. Other bacteria frequently found throughout the year were Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Herbiconiux and Bacillus. The predominant fungi and bacteria detected in yerba mate were similar to those reported in other species in which the same type of technique was used.