Ectophoma salviniae sp. nov., Neottiosporina mihintaleensis sp. nov. and four other endophytes associated with aquatic plants from Sri Lanka and their extracellular enzymatic potential

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2025 Jan 8:14:1475114. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1475114. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Endophytic fungi associated with selected aquatic plants, Eichhornia crassipes, Nymphaea nouchali, Salvinia minima and S. molesta were evaluated. Ectophoma salviniae sp. nov. and Neottiosporina mihintaleensis sp. nov. are introduced as novel taxa from Salvinia spp. from Sri Lanka. Chaetomella raphigera is reported as a new geographical record, Colletotrichum siamense and C. truncatum are reported as novel host records in aquatic plants, while Phyllosticta capitalensis has been identified on the same host (Nymphaea nouchali) in the North-Central Province of Sri Lanka. Identification of the fungi was based on morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses using ITS, LSU, SSU, ACT, CHS-1, GAPDH, tub2, rpb2, and tef1-α molecular markers. The identified fungi were analysed for extracellular enzymatic properties. According to the qualitative analysis, Ectophoma salviniae sp. nov. exhibited the highest amylase production, Chaetomella raphigera exhibited the highest cellulase enzyme production, and Neottiosporina mihintaleensis sp. nov. exhibited the highest laccase production. The results demonstrate the aquatic fungal diversity in this region and their extracellular enzymatic potentials, providing valuable insights for future biotechnological approaches.

Keywords: freshwater plants; fungal endophytes; hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes; new species; phylogeny; taxonomy.

MeSH terms

  • Ascomycota / classification
  • Ascomycota / genetics
  • Ascomycota / isolation & purification
  • DNA, Fungal / genetics
  • Endophytes* / classification
  • Endophytes* / genetics
  • Endophytes* / isolation & purification
  • Phylogeny*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sri Lanka

Substances

  • DNA, Fungal

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors are grateful to the High-Level Talent Recruitment Plan of Yunnan Province (“Young Talents” Program and “High-End Foreign Experts” Program), the Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education of the Deep-Time Evolution on Biodiversity from the Origin of the Pearl River, Meemann Chang Academician Workstation in Yunnan Province (202225AF150002), the Yunnan Province Young and Middle-aged Academic and Technical Leaders Reserve Talents Program (Grant No. 202305AC350252), and the General Programs of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology (Grant No. 202101BA070001-076). This work was supported by the Science and Technology Human Resource Development Project, Ministry of Higher Education, Sri Lanka, funded by the Asian Development Bank (Grant number R3-RJ2) and Tropical Microbiology Research Foundation (TMRF). Jayarama D. Bhat and Turki M. Dawoud gratefully acknowledge the financial support under the Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Programme (DSFP), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.