Isolation, identification and biodiversity of endophytic fungi o Thymus

Document Type : Original Research Papers

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

2 Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hamedan, Iran.

Abstract

Endophytes are considered as an important source of bioactive natural products because these
microorganisms are able to occupy unique biological niches and grow in non-ordinary
environments. Therefore, endophytic fungi of medicinal plants can be developed for medicinal
applications. On the other hand, medicinal properties of plant can be ascribed to its endophytic
fungi. Thymus sp. is widely used as a medicinal plant. In this research, the endophytic
microflora of the plant was studied. In order to isolate endophytic fungi, 800 segments of 6
Thymus species were collected from its natural habitats in Hamedan province (Iran) and
medicinal plants garden during the seasons of spring, summer and fall 2011. Finally, 95 isolates
consisting of 11 different fungal genera, 6 yeast isolates and 19 infertile mycelium were
obtained. Among the identified isolates, the most abundant genera were Alternaria, Phoma, and
Fusarium. The above mentioned genera and the genera of Cladosporium and Colletorichum
were first reported from Thymus in Iran. The genera Curvularia, Cylindrocarpon, Drecheslra,
Aspergillus, Stemphylium and Ulocladium were also, first reported from Thymus in the world.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Progress in Biological Sciences
Volume 5, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
Winter & Spring
June 2015
Pages 43-50

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