First Record of Juncaceicola as Endophytic Fungi Associated with Deschampsia antarctica Desv.
Guilherme Afonso Kessler de Andrade,
Ehidy Rocio Peña Cañón,
Rodrigo Paidano Alves,
Daniela Schmitz,
Adriano Luis Schünemann,
Margéli Pereira de Albuquerque,
Jair Putzke,
Antônio Batista Pereira,
Filipe de Carvalho Victoria
Affiliations
Guilherme Afonso Kessler de Andrade
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Ehidy Rocio Peña Cañón
Grupo de Investigación Biología para la Conservación, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Avenida Central del Norte 39-115, Tunia 150003, Colombia
Rodrigo Paidano Alves
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Daniela Schmitz
Laboratório de Ecologia Evolutiva de Plantas (LEEP), Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Av. PH Rolfs, Viçosa CEP 36570-000, Brazil
Adriano Luis Schünemann
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Margéli Pereira de Albuquerque
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Jair Putzke
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Antônio Batista Pereira
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
Filipe de Carvalho Victoria
Núcleo de Estudos da Vegetação Antártica (NEVA), Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Avenida Antônio Trilha, 1847, São Gabriel CEP 97300-000, Brazil
In the current study, we present the molecular characterization of an endophyte fungus associated with the leaves of Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae), a monocot species native to Antarctica. The isolate was obtained from 90 leaf fragments from two distinct collection sites, both located on Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands and Maritime Antarctica. The internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) was sequenced and the endophytic fungus was identified as belonging to the genus Juncaceicola Tennakoon, Camporesi, Phook and K.D. Hyde (99% nucleotide sequence identity). When compared to all fungi of the genus Juncaceicola deposited in data base, our isolate showed greater proximity with Juncaceicola typharum, however, because it presents a low bootstrap value to be considered a new species, we treat it as Juncaceicola cf. typharum. Moreover, the identification of our isolate as belonging to the genus Juncaceicola makes this the first occurrence of a species of this genus to be associated with the leaves of Antarctic plants. This work is considered as a starting point for other studies with fungi of this genus associated with leaves of Deschampsia antarctica, as it presents results from two collection points on a single Antarctic island, suggesting that new sites and new Antarctic islands should be explored.
