Species Diversity of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Taxus cuspidata Inhabiting Mt. Hallasan, Korea

Several endophytic fungal strains were isolated from Taxus cuspidata and identified bymolecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and RNA polymerase Ⅱ second largestsubunit. This study aimed to determine the relative abundance and compare the speciesdiversity of endophytic fungal communities within needle leaves and twigs. We identifieda total of 49 endophytic fungal species. Notably, two species, Trichoderma dingleyaeand Xylaria cubensis, were discovered to be previously unrecorded in Korea. The fungalcommunities in both plant tissues demonstrated distinct species composition. Differenceswere observed in the relative abundance and species diversity index between needle leavesand twigs. Our findings suggest that the host plant tissues influence the species diversity ofendophytic fungal communities. KCI Citation Count: 0