Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor. J. Mycol.)
Indexed in SCOPUS, KCI, DOAJ
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED
pISSN 0253-651X
eISSN 2383-5249
RESEARCH ARTICLE

First Report of Six Trichoderma Species Isolated from Freshwater Environment in Korea

1Fungal Resources Research Division, Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, Sangju
37242, Korea
2Department of Biology, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Korea
3Division of Food Technology, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry, Chonnam National University,
Gwangju 61186, Korea
#Co-first authors: Jaeduk Goh & Bora Nam

Correspondence to yjchoi@kunsan.ac.kr

Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) September, 2018, 46(3):213-225.
https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.20180027
Accepted: August 1, 2018; Revised: August 1, 2018; Received: July 5, 2018
Published: September, 2018.
© 2018 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Trichoderma (Hypocreaceae) is one of the most ubiquitous genera worldwide. This genus has an excellent ability to adapt to diverse environments, even under poor nutritional conditions, such as in freshwater. However, little is known about the diversity of Trichoderma species in freshwater environments. In this study, we isolated diverse fungal strains from algae, plant litter, and soil sediment in streams in Korea. The strains were identified based on molecular phylogenetic analyses of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA and translation elongation factor 1 (TEF1α) sequences. We also investigated their morphological characteristics by microscopic observation and determination of cultural features on different media. As a result, six Trichoderma species were found in Korea: T. afroharzianum, T. capillare, T. guizhouense, T. paraviridescens, T. reesei, and T. saturnisporum. Interestingly, T. paraviridescens showed both cellulose activity and hypoxia stress tolerance phenotypes, indicating its role as a decomposer in freshwater ecosystems. Our study revealed that freshwater environment could be a good candidate for investigating the species diversity of Trichoderma.

Keywords

Freshwater, Extracellular enzymes, ITS rDNA, Plant litter, TEF1α

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