Endophytic Fungi of Native Salvia abrotanoides Plants Reveal High Taxonomic Diversity and Unique Profiles of Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are often embedded in their host's metabolic networks, which can result in alterations of metabolite production and higher amounts of active compounds in medicinal plants. This study reports the occurrence, diversity, and secondary metabolite profiles of endophytic fungi isolated from Salvia abrotanoides plants obtained from three geographically distinct sites in Iran. A total of 56 endophytic fungi were isolated from roots and leaves of S. abrotanoides; site-specificity and root-dominated colonization was found to be a general characteristic of the endophytes. Based on molecular identification, the endophytic fungi were classified into 15 genera. Mycelial extracts of these isolates were subjected to high-resolution mass spectrometry analyses and revealed a broad spectrum of secondary metabolites. Our results demonstrated that Penicillium canescens, P. murcianum, Paraphoma radicina, and Coniolariella hispanica are producers of cryptotanshinone, which is a main bioactive compound of S. abrotanoides. Moreover, it was shown that it can be produced independent of the host plant. The effect of exogenous gibberellin on S. abrotanoides and endophytic fungi was shown to have a positive effect on increasing the cryptotanshinone production in the plant as well as in endophytic fungi cultivated under axenic conditions. Our findings provide further evidence that endophytic fungi play an important role in the production plant bioactive metabolites. Moreover, they provide an exploitable basis to increase cryptotanshinone production in S. abrotanoides.

Biological Synthesis of Nanoparticles Using Endophytic Microorganisms: Current Development

“…1. However, a total of 56 endophytic fungi was isolated from leave and root segments of Salvia abrotanoides at the three sites by Teimoori-Boghsani et al [25]. The isolated strains belong to 16 different fungal genera, this including: Penicillium, Paraphoma, Phaeoacremonium, Talaromyces, Aspergillus, Psathyrella, Trichoderma, Alternaria, Thielavia, Acremonium, Fusarium, Talaromyces, Coniolariella, Paecilomyces, Simplicillium, and Monocillium.…”

Molecular typing, biodiversity, and biological control of endophytic fungi of Triticum aestivum L. against phytopathogenic fungi of wheat

“…Troncoso et al (2010) and Vergara et al (2018) also reported that the endophytic fungi F. subglutinans and DSSM were the predominant fungi among the endophytic fungal populations in the plant mycobiome with unique biologically active substances that do not cause any signs of diseases; these results are in line with our findings. Similarly, Teimoori-Boghsani et al (2020) reported that fungal endophytes of wheat proved to be promising biological control agents and offer an alternative safe strategy to wheat disease management. Fungal endophytes adapt particularly well to their host plant, colonize the same ecological niches as those of phytopathogens, and produce a wide range of secondary metabolites necessary for their survival and for the protection of their host against many phytopathogens and insect herbivores.…”

“…Both DSSM and F. subglutinans are unique sources of bioactive substances such as salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, subglutinol A and B, gibberellin, and gibberellin oxidase that have been reported to regulate defense hormone signaling networks in plants and enhance resistance against pathogens and insect attack (Troncoso et al, 2010;Gong et al, 2012, Ozan, 2019Teimoori-Boghsani et al, 2020).…”

“…Endophytic fungi are a group of fungi with similar characteristics that inhabit different plant organs such as leaves, stems, and roots without causing any damage (Teimoori-Boghsani et al, 2020). In recent decades, there has been much interest in the fungal endophytes of plant regarding 1) entry, colonization, and distribution of endophytic microorganisms, 2) benefits of "plant-endophyte" interactions for sustainable cultivation of medicinal plants, 3) plant growth-promoting mechanisms of endophytes, 4) endophytes inducing systemic resistance in strategic crop plants, 5) seed priming by endophytes and its agricultural applications, 6) the chemical pathways involved in endophytic microorganismplant relations, 7) endophytic microbial influence on plant stress response, 8) microbial bioformulation-based 284 plant bio-stimulants as a reasonable methodology for subsequent generation of sustainable agronomy, 9) genomic insights of plant-endophyte interaction and prospects and impact on plant health, 10) gene expression studies of fungal endophytes in disease management of field crop plants, 11) endophytic fungi, a treasure house of novel nanoparticles for disease management, 12) therapeutic and biotechnological applications of the diverse fungal endophytic flora, 13) biocommercial aspects of microbial endophytes for sustainable agriculture, and 14) legal issues and IPR in microbial research (Comby et al, 2017;El-Gendy et al, 2017a;El-Bondkly et al, 2020a;Ripa et al, 2019;Kumar and Radhakrishnan, 2020).…”

Genetic diversity of Fusarium endophytes strains from sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) tissues in Burkina Faso

“…Subsequently, considerable evidence indicated endophytic associations to be important for the plant immune system (Soliman et al, 2015), disease suppression (Terhonen et al, 2016), nutrient acquisition (Hiruma et al, 2016), plant fitness (Khare et al, 2018) and tolerance to abiotic stresses (Chagas et al, 2018;Shahzad et al, 2017;Silva, 2017). Many endophytes are known to be an important source of secondary metabolites and plant hormones (Hardoim et al, 2015;Muria-Gonzalez et al, 2015;Teimoori-Boghsani et al, 2020) and have the potential to synthesize various bioactive metabolites that may be used as therapeutic agents against numerous diseases (Aharwal et al, 2016;Duan et al, 2019).…”