Diversity of Fungal Endophytes in Cymbopogon Caesius

Can I Request a Specific Writer?

Yes, if you have worked with a writer before, you can request them again for consistency and familiarity with your needs. This ensures a smooth, tailored experience. Writer continuity helps maintain consistent style and understanding of your preferences. Browse profiles or contact support to make your choice. Essay writer relationships build over time for increasingly personalized academic support.

Diversity of Fungal Endophytes in Cymbopogon caesius (Hook. & Arn.) Stapf. of Kemmannugundi Regions of Karnataka, India

Avinash K.S. and Y.L. Krishnamurthy*

Abstract:

How Do You Ensure On-Time Delivery?

We assign writers immediately and monitor progress, with backup plans to guarantee your paper arrives on schedule. Your deadlines are our priority. Our project tracking system alerts us to potential delays for proactive intervention. Rest assured, we will deliver when you need it. My assignment help includes stringent deadline monitoring for reliable punctual delivery.

Cymbopogon grass produces many bioactive compounds and used for many medicinal purposes. In this study healthy leaf, stem and root segments were cultured on media like Potato dextrose agar and Malt extract agar medium and pure cultured. Endophytic fungi were isolated from 1200 samples of Cymbopogon caesius grass collected from Kemmannugundi regions of Karnataka. Overall 56% of colonisation rate from surface sterilised tissues were recorded. About 30 different fungal species were isolated and 12 were identified and 18 were grouped as morph taxa. Less isolates were recovered from leaf segments and more isolates were recovered from root segments. Curvularia sp. and Fusarium sp. were frequently isolated endophytes with the high colonisation rate.

Key Words: Endophytes, Cymbopogon caesius, Grass, Curvularia, Fusarium.

1. Introduction

Endophytes are microorganisms which live inside the host without causing any negative effect by their presence. The plant and endophytic fungi show symbiotic association. Plant protects and feeds the endophyte which in return produces bioactive secondary metabolites to enhance the growth and competitiveness of the host in nature (Carrol, 1988 and Hong Lu et al., 2000). Endophytes are widely investigated for their bioactive metabolites and have proven to produce potential compounds which are applicable in medicine (Clovis and Ewald, 2012). The compounds usually isolated from medicinal plants may not be plant metabolites they may be from fungal endophytes which reside in the host plant. Endophytes of tropical plants are among the groups of fungi that have been studied to arrive at the predicted figure of 1.5 million (Hawksworth, 1991; Subramanian et al 2003)

Can You Help with Reflective Essays?

Our writers craft thoughtful reflective essays, blending personal insight with academic structure to meet your goals. We capture your voice perfectly. Reflective writing requires balancing personal experience with scholarly analysis. Share your story or guidelines to get started. Research study bay professionals excel at combining personal narrative with academic rigor.

Cymbopogon species are traditional medicinal grasses well recognised for its aromatic oil. Cymbopogon caesius grass was wide spread in areas of Kemmannugundi of Chikmagalur Dist, Karnataka. Despite the wide distribution of Cymbopogon grass along the central Western Ghats of Karnataka only limited work has been done for their association with fungal endophytes. Even though the oil extracted from the grass has been used in medicine currently there is no enough information regarding the diversity of the fungal endophytes with the species. We have selected Cymbopogon caesius (Hook. & Arn.) Stapf for the study of diversity of the fungal endophytes. Fungi were isolated from leaves, stem and root followed by the surface sterilisation process.

The objectives of the study were to isolate and identify the fungal endophytes from different parts of Cymbopogon caeceous grass of Kemmannugundi regions of Karnataka.

2. Meterials and Methods

2.1 Sampling:

C. caeseus (root, stem and leaf samples) was collected from Kemmannugundi (13º28’26” N 75º44’50” E 4275ft) Chikmagalur District. Roots were collected with a ball of soil so that to avoid damage to the roots. Twenty healthy looking culms of grass were collected and transported in a clean polythene bag in closed condition and processed within 24 hour of collection.

What Is Your Quality Control Process?

Every paper is reviewed by editors for accuracy, style, and originality, ensuring it meets high academic standards. We use advanced tools to guarantee quality. Our multi-tiered review system includes both automated checks and expert human evaluation. Your paper will exceed expectations every time. Paper writing quality assurance involves multiple verification stages before delivery.

2.2 Isolation of fungi

The collected samples were washed thoroughly by running tap water to clean soil from roots and were cut into small pieces. The cut segments were surface sterilised using 70% ethanol followed by immersion in 3% Sodium hypochlorite for 4 minutes and again washed twice with distilled water (Maheshwari and Rajagopal, 2013). The efficacy of the surface sterilisation was confirmed by pressing the sterilised segments onto the surface of the medium, the surface sterilised small pieces were cut into .03-.05cm segments (Chuyang et al., 2001). Four hundred segments were inoculated into potato dextrose agar medium which is supplemented with 100mg of Amoxillin to inhibit the growth of bacteria. The inoculated petri plates were wrapped with petriseal and incubated at 27 ±1 degree centigrade. The plates were observed daily after 3 days of inoculation up to one month the emerged fungal endophytes were transferred to new petri plates containing PDA Medium.

2.3 Identification of Endophytic fungi

For the identification of endophytic fungi, slides were prepared from pure cultures and were stained with Lacto phenol cotton blue stain and observed under Karl Zeiss Primo star microscope. Morphological Characteristics such as growth pattern colour of colony, mycelium texture, spore production type and characters of the spore (Barnet & Hunter, Ellis, Subramanian).

3. Statistical analysis

Can You Include Specific Sources?

Yes, provide your sources or let our writers find credible ones, properly cited to support your paper. Every source is cited perfectly. We integrate your required readings seamlessly while maintaining academic citation standards. Share your materials in the order form for best results. Assignment writer expertise ensures proper source integration and citation accuracy.

The colonisation rate (CR) was determined by total number of segments yielding endophytes divided by the total number of segments inoculated (Petrini et al., 1982).

Number of segments yielding endophytes

Total number of segments inoculated

4. Results

A total of 959 isolates of endophytes were recovered out of 1200 segments inoculated. Total 400 segments each of root, stem and leaf segments were inoculated for the isolation of endophytes. Most frequently found endophytes were Fusarium oxysporum (11.46%), Aspergillus clavatus (8.7%), and Curvularia spp. (7.78%) (Table 1).

Can You Write for Professional Programs?

We create papers for MBA, law, or medical programs, with writers who understand their unique requirements. Our expertise ensures top-quality results. Professional programs demand industry-specific knowledge and specialized writing conventions. Provide your program details for a customized paper. Ace tutors with professional credentials deliver field-appropriate academic writing.

Table 1: Colonisation Frequency of fungal endophytes of C. caesius.

Table 2: Infection frequency and isolation rate of fungal endophytes of C. caesius.

More isolates of endophytes (87%) were recovered from the root segments of the Cymbopogon grass compared to stem (49.49%) and leaf segments (56%). 18 unidentified fungi were numbered and stored as morph taxa.

5. Discussion

The Cymbopogon grass is the very popular for its aromatic oil. The purpose of the study was to document endophytic diversity of Cymbopogon grass of the study area which was widely distributed in the area. The endophytic fungi were cultivated on artificial medium (PDA) as pure culture. Some of the fungi exhibited characteristic colony characters and microscopic characters which were helpful in identifying them whereas some of the fungus was produced good mycelia but did not show any sporulation were kept as morph types. All the isolated endophytes belonging to 11 different genera. The endophytes were more resided in root. The endophytes may not show any host specificity as they were recovered from different groups of plants (Petrini 1986).

In the present investigation leaves, stems and roots of C. caesius were used for isolation of endophytic fungi. The fungal colonisation was higher in roots as compare to stem and leaves. Higher colonisation of endophytes in leaf and stem tissues, as compared to roots, was reported by Siegel and Latch (1991) and Clay and Schardle (2002) Ajay et al (2012) in grasses and in the study of medicinal plant species leaves colonised greater number of endophytes compared to stem and bark (Raviraja 2005). About 11 genera of fungal species were isolated which indicates the various fungal populations in the grass. The variation in the colonisation rate depends on the host habitat, Soil environment (Shankar Naik et al, 2014). In the study the CR is varied in different parts of the plant. The more number of fungal endophytes isolated from root which similar to the results of Sita et, al., 2011 where thy obtained almost three times more endophytes in roots compared to shoot tissues. Fungi have been widely investigated as a source of bioactive compounds. An excellent example of this is the anticancer drug, taxol, which had been previously supposed to occur only in the plants (Strobel & Daisy, 2003) in this aspect present study is very relevant to explore more useful fungal endophytes.

6. Acknowledgement

The authors are gratefully thankful to Kuvempu University Shankaraghatta Shimoga for constant support throughout the study and Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for Financial assistance.

7. References

[1] Chunying Zhang, Lijuan Yin, Silan Dai, Diversity of root-associated fungal endophytes in Rhododendron fortune in subtropical forests of China, Mycorrhiza. 19(2009) 417-423.

[2] Carroll, G. C, Fungal endophytes in stems and leaves: From latent pathogen to mutualistic symbiont, Ecology. 692 (1988) -9.

[3] Hawksworth,D. L, The fungal dimension of biodiversity :magnitude, significance, and conservation, Mycol. Res. 95(1991) 641-655.

[4] Petrini, 0. Stone, j. & Carroll, F. Endophytic fungi in evergreen shrubs in western Oregon: a preliminary study, Canadian Journal of Botany. 60(1982) 789-796.

[5] Petrini, O, Taxonomy of endophytic fungi of aerial plant tissues. In Microbiology of the Phyllosphere (ed. N. j. Fokkema &). van den Heuvel), 1986, pp. 175-187. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

[6] Pramuan Saithong, Wanchai Panthavee, Siriporn Stonsaovapak and Li Congfa, Isolation and primary identification of endophytic fungi from Cephalotaxus mannii trees, Maejo International journal of Science and Technology. 4(03) (2010) 446-453.

[7] Raviraja N S, Fungal endophytes in five medicinal plant species from Kudremukh Range, Western Ghats of India, Journal of Basic Microbiology. 45(3) (2005) 230-235.

[8] Shankar Naik B, Krishnappa M, Krishnamurthy Y L. Endophytic assemblage in Strychnous nuxvomica L. and antagonistic activities in vitro, Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection. 2014.

[9] Sita R Ghimire, Nikki D Charlton, Jeremey D Bell, Yelugere L Krishnamurthy and Kelly D Craven, Biodiversity of fungal endophyte communities inhabiting switch grass (Panicum virgatum L.) growing in the native tall grass prairie of northern Oklahoma, Fungal Diversity. 47(2011)19-27.

[10] Suryanarayanan T S and Kumaresan V, Endophytic fungi of some halophytes from an estuarine mangrove forest, Mycological Research. 104(12) (2000) 1465-1467.

[11] Hong Lu, Wen Xin Zou, Jun Cai Meng, Jun Hu, Ren Xiang Tan, New bioactive metabolites produced by Colletotrichum sp., an endophytic fungus in Artemisia annua, Plant Science 151 (2000) 67–73.

[12] Clovis Douanla-Meli,Ewald Langer, Diversity and molecular phylogeny of fungal endophytes associated with Diospyros crassiflora, Mycology 3(3) (2012):175-187.

[13] Maheswari, S., and Rajagopal, K, Biodiversity of endophytic fungi in Kigelia pinnata during two different seasons, Curr. Sci. 104(2013): 515-518.

[14] Barnett, H.L., and Hunter, B.B., 1972.Illustrated genera of imperfect fungi, 3^rd ed. Burgess publishing company, USA.pp. 218.

[15] Ellis M B, More Dematiaceous Hypomycetes, Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew, Suirrey, England, 1976.

[16] Siegel MR, Latch GCM., Expression of antifungal activity in agar culture by isolates of grass endophytes, Mycologia, 83(1991) 529–537.

[17] Clay K, Schardle CL., Evolutionary origin and ecological consequences of endophyte symbiosis with grasses, Am Nat, 160(2002) S99–S127.

[18] Ajay Kumar Gautam , Mona Kant & Yogita Thakur., Isolation of endophytic fungi from Cannabis sativa and study their antifungal potential, Archives Of Phytopathology And Plant Protection, Vol. 46 (2013), No. 6, 627–635.

[19] Gary Strobel and Bryn Daisy, Bioprospecting for Microbial Endophytes and Their Natural Products, Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 67(4)2003: 491–502.