– Diversity of endophytic fungi associated with Dillenia indica L., an ethnomedicinal plant

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are an important source of novel bioactive molecules having broad applications in agriculture, pharmaceutical and medical industries. In the present study, endophytic fungi were isolated from Dillenia indica L. and characterized on the basis of morphological and molecular approaches. Twenty-five different endophytic fungi belonging to twenty genera i.e., Curvularia lunata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Bipolaris crotonis, Fusarium oxysporum, Chaetomium globosum, Trichoderma viride, Clonostachys rosea, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Schizophyllum commune, Phomopsis sp., Colletotrichum gigasporum, Fomitopsis meliae, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Pseudofusicoccum adansoniae, Daldinia eschscholtzii, Nigrospora sphaerica, Xylaria longipes, Neopestalotiopsis clavispora, Alternaria tenuissima, Aspergillus fumigatus, Colletotrichum musae and Colletotrichum boninense were isolated and identified from different parts (leaves, fruits and stems) of Dillenia indica. To the best of our knowledge, Colletotrichum gigasporum is being reported for the first time from northwestern India and this is the first report on endophytic fungal diversity from Dillenia indica L.