Antifungal effects of volatile organic compounds from the endophytic fungus Cryptosporiopsis ericae Cc-HG-7 isolated from Coptis chinensis Franch

ABSTRACT

In this study, 136 strains of endophytic fungi were isolated from the Chinese traditional medicinal plant Coptis chinensis Franch. Of these, 129 strains were classified into 12 different genera according to morphological traits and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene sequence analyses. Their antifungal activities were assessed against the following fungi: Magnaporthe oryzae, Pythium graminicola, Cylindrocarpon destructans, Fusarium oxysporum, Cercospora zeae-maydis, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Setosphaeria turcica and Botrytis cinerea. Fourteen endophytic strains were active against at least one of the selected fungi. The most active strain Cc-HG-7 identified as Cryptosporiopsis ericae displayed inhibition rates of 81.42% and 72.00%, respectively, against S. sclerotiorum and S. turcica in dual culture technique. The volatile antifungal compounds were identified using headspace solid-phase microextraction, followed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry to investigate the potential biocontrol mechanisms of strain Cc-HG-7. The results suggested that the strain Cc-HG-7 could be a potential agent for the biological control of S. sclerotiorum and S. turcica.

KEYWORDS:

• Endophytic fungi
• Coptis chinensis Franch; phytopathogen
• volatile organic compounds

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by the Project of International Collaboration Plan in Jilin Province (20150414041GH, 20160414028GH); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31101394); the Special Project for Science and Technology Innovation of Grain Yield and Efficiency in P.R. China (2016YFD0300704); the Science Foundation for the Excellent Youth Scholars of Jilin Province (20170520071JH); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017 YFD0300606, 2016 YFC0501202, 2017YFD0201802) and the National Key Research and Development Program of Jilin Province (20180201012NY).