Exploring Endophytic Fungal Diversity in Catharanthusroseus

Endophytic fungi, inhabiting the internal parts of plants, play crucial roles in protecting host plants against stress and producing bioactive compounds. This study aimed to investigate the diversity and distribution of endophytic fungi in Catharanthus roseus, a medicinal plant known for its production of valuable alkaloids. Samples of healthy plant tissues were collected, surface sterilized, and fungal isolates were identified morphologically and molecularly and the colonization frequency (CF), richness diversity, evenness indices and fungal communities of the endophytes inhabiting the root, stem, leaf and flower were also compared. A total of 110 endophytic fungal isolates were recovered and assigned to 11 morpho-genera of the phylum Ascomycetes, with dominance by Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes. Alternaria sp., Penicillium sp., and Stemphylium sp. were prevalent genera with relative occurrence of % of 28.2, 18.2 and 17.3, respectively. These results indicated that diverse endophytic fungal population inhabits C. roseus. The colonization rate was highest in leaves, followed by stems. The species richness and evenness index was highest in the stem. So stem showed greater diversity than other tissues. These findings provide insights into the tissue-specificity and diversity of endophytic fungi in C. roseus, with implications for plant health and secondary metabolite production. The results contribute to our understanding of endophytic fungalcommunities in this medicinal plants

Exploring Endophytic Fungal Diversity in Catharanthusroseus Keywords:

Catharanthus roseus , Endophytes , Diversity