Differences in the endophytic fungal community and effective ingredients in root of three Glycyrrhiza species in Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Background Endophytic fungi influence the quality and quantity of the medicinal plant’s bioactive compounds through specific fungus-host interactions. Nevertheless, due to the paucity of information, the composition of endophytic fungal communities and the mechanism by which effective ingredients regulate endophytic fungal communities in roots remains unclear. Methods In this study, we collected root and soil samples (depth range: 0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm) of three Glycyrrhiza species (Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Glycyrrhiza inflata, and Glycyrrhiza glabra). Glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin content were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and total flavonoid content was determined using ultraviolet spectrophotometry. High-throughput sequencing technology was employed to explore the composition and diversity of the endophytic fungal community in different root segments of three Glycyrrhiza species. Furthermore, soil samples were subjected to physicochemical analyses. Results We observed that the liquiritin content was not affected by the root depth (0–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–60 cm). Still, it was significantly affected by the Glycyrrhiza species (Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Glycyrrhiza inflata, Glycyrrhiza glabra) (P < 0.05). In Glycyrrhiza root, a total of eight phyla and 140 genera were annotated so far, out of which Ascomycota and Basidiomycota phyla, and the Fusarium, Paraphoma, and Helminthosporium genera were found to be significantly dominant. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that liquiritin content was accountable for the differences in the diversity of the endophytic fungal community. Furthermore, distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA) showed that physicochemical properties of the soil (available potassium and ammonium nitrogen) and the root factors (liquiritin and water content) were the main contributing factors for the variations in the overall structure of the endophytic fungal community. Our results showed that the effective ingredients of Glycyrrhiza root and physicochemical properties of the soil regulated the endophytic fungal community composition and medicinal licorice diversity.

Dendrobine biosynthesis in Dendrobium nobile in four different habitats is affected by the variations in the endophytic fungal community

“…In Gentiana , the loganic acid content was reported to be significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of endophytic fungi ( Hou et al, 2022 ). The liquiritin content of three Glycyrrhiza species was affected by the differences in the diversity of the endophytic fungal community ( Dang et al, 2021 ). The accumulation of seven active components including total sugars, flavonoids, and ursolic acid in Cynomorium songaricum Rupr.…”

COMT, CRTZ, and F3’H regulate glycyrrhizic acid biosynthesis in Glycyrrhiza uralensis hairy roots

“…To evaluate the effects of F3'H over-expression or knockout on the avonoid metabolism, we detected the total avonoid contents in the WT, NC-PCA, NC-PHSE, F3'H + , and F3'H − hairy root lines according to a previous study (Dang et al 2021). The standard compound liquiritin with a purity of 98.50% was purchased from China National Institutes for Food and Drug Control.…”

Culturable Endophytic Fungi from Glycyrrhiza inflata Distributed in Xinjiang, China with Antifungal Activity

“…The endophytic fungi and their secondary metabolites of G. glabra have been studied previously [22,23]. However, the endophytic fungi of G. infalta and G. uralensis have rarely been reported [24]. In this study, we studied the diversity of endophytic fungi of G. inflata after strict surface disinfection, and evaluated the antifungal activity of the extracts from 22 representative endophytic fungi.…”