Diversity and Distribution of Bulb-associated fungi of Fritillaria Cirrhosae Bulbus Source Plants used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Diversity and community composition of bulb-associated fungi of Fritillaria Cirrhosae Bulbus source plants, which are used in traditional chinese medicine, in the eastern Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China, were estimated based on the internal transcribed spacer rDNA sequence analysis, using host plant species, geographic area, and plant phenology as variables. A total of 1,486 fungal sequences assigned to 251 operational taxonomical units (OTUs) were obtained from the bulbs. Fungal OTUs comprised 96.41% Ascomycotina, 3.52% Basidiomycotina, and 0.07% Zygomycotina. Sordariomycetes, Hypocreales, and Nectriaceae were the most frequent fungal lineages at each taxonomic rank. Fusarium, Ilyonectria, Tetracladium, Leptodontidium, and Tomentella were the top OTU-rich genera. Fusarium sp. 03, Ilyonectria rufa, Fusarium sp. 08, Ilyonectria sp. 03, and Leptodontidium orchidicola 03 represented the most frequent OTUs. Fusarium spp. were the most frequent general taxa. The distribution of fungal community exhibited preferences for host plant species, geographic area, and plant phenology. These findings are the foundation of our research on culturing and active metabolites of bulb-associated fungi of Fritillaria Cirrhosae Bulbus source plants.

Keywords

• community composition
• eastern himalaya–hengduan mountains
• fungal diversity
• its rdna
• medicinal plants