Culture‐based methods using low‐temperature incubation revealed cold‐adapted fungal endophytes from semiarid forests

Abstract

Fungal endophytes are an important part of the plant microbiome and participate in maintaining the stability of ecosystems. Culture‐based methods are frequently considered in studying fungal communities because of their advantages in providing cultures for further experiments and their low cost. In comparison with next‐generation sequencing methods, their ability to assess fungal diversity is questionable. Here, we show how using two different incubation temperatures can improve the yield of fungal endophytes by culture‐based methods. Diversity, organ preference and spatiotemporal variability of endophytic fungal communities living within Quercus brantii L. were investigated using two different incubation temperatures. To test the effects of using low‐temperature incubation on diversity estimations, twigs and leaves of Quercus brantii were incubated under 25°C and 4°C conditions. Isolation rate and Hill's series of diversity were calculated for each sample. Model‐based analysis was used to evaluate the effects of (a) incubation temperature, (b) organ type and (c) spatiotemporal variations on fungal isolation rate, fungal diversity and community composition. Our results showed a strong organ specificity and temporal dynamics among endophytic fungal communities, but the location of the forest stand had only a limited effect on fungal community composition. Low‐temperature incubation enabled us to improve culture‐based methods by discovering the diversity of cold‐adapted fungal endophytes and a significantly different part of the endophytic communities that is usually missed by customary culturing temperature. The isolation of cold‐adapted endophytes from a semiarid environment opens a new window to further studies on this kind of fungi in such ecosystems.

Purification and characterization of lipase enzyme from endophytic Bacillus pumilus WSS5 for application in detergent industry

“…Endophytes in several unexplored environments around the globe have been intensively studied (Chauhan et al 2019;Fouda et al 2021;Hagh Doust et al 2019;Kamat et al 2020;Singh and Dubey 2018). A little work has been done in this area from Jammu & Kashmir region to exploit the potential of the hidden treasure of indigenous plant endophytes.…”

“…Lipases have emerged as one of the leading biocatalysts in recent years, accounting for almost 10% of the enzyme market, and have shown the ability to add to the multibillion-dollar market share of the bioindustry. These are used as avor-modifying enzymes in food additives, cleaning agents in detergents, pitch control in the paper, digestive enzymes in pharmaceutical products, etc (Carvalho et al 2015;Guerrand 2017;Kumari et al 2019;Raveendran et al 2018;Salihu et al 2016;Singh et al 2016). Among the microbial sources of unique enzymes, the intent for screening bacterial endophytes as a prospective source of such enzymes refers to the hypothesized mutualistic connection between the endophyte and its host plant.…”

Why Are There So Few Basidiomycota and Basal Fungi as Endophytes? A Review

“…Lower temperatures and longer incubation periods may facilitate species recovery by reducing the growth of fast-growing mesophilic fungi as well as reducing the drying out of culture media. Hagh Doust et al [88] isolated endophytes using two incubation temperatures (4 • C and 25 • C) and they found that using low temperature (4 • C) can increase the numbers of fungal endophytes isolated. This allowed psychrophilic and psychrotolerant fungi to be discovered.…”