New records of endophytic fungi isolated from oak trees in Kurdistan province (Iran)

Abstract

Oak is the most important forest tree in Kurdistan province (Iran). Fungi are associated with oak trees as parasite, saprophyte and endophyte. The endophytic fungi are known components of biodiversity and have beneficial effects on host plants. During 2012-13 in a survey on endophytic fungi of oak trees in forest regions of Kurdistan province asymptomatic samples were collected from healthy twigs, stems and leaves. Isolation were made by plating pieces of samples, after washing with distilled water and surface sterilization with 70% ethanol, on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) supplemented with antibiotic. After incubation at 25^oC under constant darkness for two weeks 67 isolates were obtained. Purification was made by transferring single spores to PDA plates. Based on morphological characters and ITS-rDNA sequence data, five species including <em>Cladosporium tenellum</em>, <em>Paecilomyces formosus</em>, <em>Petriella guttulata</em>, <em>Preussia australis</em>, and <em>Sordaria sibutii</em> were identified as new taxa for Iran mycobiota. All of these species are reported here as endophytic fungi from oak trees for the first time.