Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The associations of fungal endophytes with trees are poorly understood, especially within
tree seeds. Recent molecular studies show that tree seeds harbour highly diverse fungal
communities, including potential plant pathogens that could be introduced to new areas
when seeds are exchanged. However, only a small fraction of these fungi can be detected
when traditional culturing is used. Traditional culturing is widely used for assessing fungal
diversity in plant tissues because it allows the detection of viable fungi and provides pure
isolates for future experiments. However, various nutrient media have been used for fungal
culturing and it is unknown if the choice of nutrient media affects the captured diversity.
This study assesses the overall diversity of endophytes in seeds of European beech (Fagus
sylvatica L.) and tests the effect of media and seed origins on endophyte diversity by
growing fungi from seeds from six locations on three commonly used types of media that
differ in carbon sources (Malt Extract Agar, Potato Dextrose Agar and Water Agar). The
results show that almost all tested seeds of European beech yielded fungi, and reveal high
diversity of fungal endophytes, including plant pathogens. Captured diversity and
community composition stayed unchanged irrespective of the medium type, but it differed
across locations of seed origin. The results show that similar communities are obtained
using three most commonly used media which indicates that most of the fungi are able to
utilise simple and complex carbohydrates and allows comparison of diversity assessed by
those media. The results also indicate that dangerous fungal pathogens could be moved
within the seeds exchanged for tree reforestation purposes which calls for the use of local
seeds for reforestation.