Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Molecular characterization of marine fungi associated with Haliclona sp. (sponge) and Turbinaria conoides and Sargassum portierianum (brown algae)

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Mauritian waters harbour micro-organisms that have successfully adapted to their environment; however, the mycobiota associated with algae and sponges have been poorly studied and are awaiting to be identified and exploited. This study focusses on the fungi associated with the sponge Haliclona sp. and two brown algae Turbinaria conoides and Sargassum portierianum from Mauritius. Samples of Haliclona sp., Turbinaria conoides and Sargassum portierianum were collected in the North of Mauritius, and associated fungi were isolated after surface sterilization and plating on artificial media supplemented with seawater. A total of 17 morphologically different isolates were recovered from Haliclona sp., 20 isolates were obtained from Turbinaria conoides, and 16 isolates were from Sargassum portierianum. The selected sponge-associated fungi have been identified as Acremonium sp., Periconia byssoides, Pestalotiopsis sp. Endophytes from Turbinaria conoides were identified as Aspergillus penicilloides, Acremonium sp. and Cordyceps memorabilis, whereas those from Sargassum portierianum were identified as Pseudopithomyces maydicus, Acremonium sclerotigenum and Curvularia lunata. The ITS regions were suitable for identifying fungi up to the genus level. However, species level identification was problematic and should be used with caution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pang KL, Overy DP, Jones EBG et al (2016) ‘Marine fungi’ and ‘marine-derived fungi’ in natural product chemistry research: Toward a new consensual definition. Fungal Biology Reviews 30(4)

  2. Tadych M, White JF (2019) Endophytic microbes. In: Schmidt TM (ed) Encyclopedia of Microbiology. Academic Press, New Brunswick, pp 123–136

    Google Scholar 

  3. Van Soest RWM, Boury-Esnault N, Hooper JNA et al (2019) World Porifera Database. http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera. Accessed 16 August 2018

  4. Bovio E, Garzoli L, Poli A et al (2019) Marine Fungi from the Sponge Grantia compressa: Biodiversity, Chemodiversity, and Biotechnological Potential. Marine Drugs 17(4):220. https://doi.org/10.3390/md17040220

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Kossuga MH, Romminger S, Xavier C et al (2012) Evaluating methods for the isolation of marine-derived fungal strains and production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Rev Bras Farmacogn 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-695X2011005000222

  6. Dayarathne MC, Jones EBG, Maharachchikumbura SSN et al (2020) Morpho-molecular characterization of microfungi associated with marine based habitats. Mycosphere 11(1):1–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Guiry MD, Guiry GM (2019) AlgaeBase. https://www.algaebase.org. Accessed 14 August 2018

  8. Bramhachari PV, Anju S, Sheela GM et al (2019) Secondary Metabolites from Marine Endophytic Fungi: Emphasis on Recent Advances in Natural Product Research. In: Singh BP (ed) Advances in Endophytic Fungal Research, Fungal Biology. Springer Nature, Switzerland, pp 339–350

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Kamat S, Kumari M, Taritla S, Jayabaskaran C (2020) Endophytic Fungi of Marine Alga from Konkan Coast, India- A Rich Source of Bioactive Material. Frontiers in Marine Science 7(31)

  10. Wang XF, Wang MM, Zhao Y, Li CL, Li W (2018) Diversity of culturable fungi associated with marine macroalgae from coast of Qingdao. China Mycosystema 37(3):281–293

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Jeewon R, Ittoo J, Mahadeb D, Jaufeerally-Fakim Y et al (2013) DNA based identification and phylogenetic characterization of endophytes and saprobic fungi from Antidesma madagascariense, a medicinal plant in Mauritius. Journal of Mycology 781914:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Thompson JD, Higgings DG, Gibson TJ (1994) CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Res 22(22):4673–4680

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Swofford DL (2002) PAUP* Version 4.0 b10 Phylogenetic Acalysis Uisng Parsimony (*and other methods. Sinauer, Sunderland

  14. Zhou J, Diao X, Wang T et al (2018) Phylogenetic diversity and antioxidant activities of culturable fungal endophytes associated with the mangrove species Rhizophora stylosa and R. mucronata in the South China Sea. PLoS ONE 13(6)

  15. Suryanarayananand TS Johnson JA (2014) Fungal Endosymbionts of Macroalgae: Need for Enquiries into Diversity and Technological Potential. Oceanography 2(1)

  16. Wang Y, Barth D, Tamminen A, Wiebe MG (2016) Growth of marine fungi on polymeric substrates. BMC Biotechnol 16(3)

  17. Jalili B, Bagheri AS, Soltani J (2020) Identification and salt tolerance evaluation of endophyte fungi isolate from halophyte plants. Int J Environ Sci Technol 17:3459–3466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ghule S, Sawant IS, Sawant SD et al (2019) Isolation and identification of three new mycoparasites of Erysiphe necator for biological control of grapevine powdery mildew. Australas Plant Pathol 48(4):351–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jeewon R, Hyde KD (2016) Establishing species boundaries and new taxa among fungi: recommendations to resolve taxonomic ambiguities. Mycosphere 7(11):1669–1677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Chi LP, Yang SQ, Li XM et al (2020) A new steroid with 7β,8β-epoxidation from the deep sea fungus Aspergillus penicilloides SD-311

  21. Nazareth SW, Gonsalves V (2014) Halophilic Aspergillus penicillioides from athalassohaline, thalassohaline, and polyhaline environments. Front Microbiol 5(412). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00412

  22. Wanasinghe DN, Phukhamsakda C, Hyde KD et al (2018) Fungal diversity notes 709–839: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa with an emphasis on fungi on Rosaceae. Fungal Diversity 89:1–236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-018-0395-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Doilom M, Manawasinghe IS, Jeewon R et al (2017) Can ITS sequence data identify fungal endophytes from cultures? A case study from Rhizophora apiculata. Mycosphere 8(10):1869–1892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Saltamachia SJ, Araújo JPM (2020) Ophiocordyceps desmidiospora, a basal lineage within the ‘Zombie Ant Fungi’ clade. Mycologia

  25. Cheng M, Aung T, Wu M et al (2020) Polar Constituent of the Endophytic Fungus Ophiocordyceps sobolifera. Chem Nat Compd 56:289–291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Herrmann LW, poitevin CG, Schuindt LC, et al (2019) Diversity of fungal endophytes in leaves of Mentha piperita and Mentha canadensis. International Journal of Botany Studies 4(1):44–49

    Google Scholar 

  27. Markovskaja S, Kačergius A (2014) Morphological and molecular characterisation of Periconia pseudobyssoides sp. nov. and closely related P. byssoides. Mycol Prog 13(2): 291–302

  28. Liu J, Chen M, Chen R et al (2020) Three new compounds from the endophytic fungus Periconia sp. F-31. Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Science 29(4): 244–251

  29. Marin-Felix Y, Hernández-Restrepo M, Crous PW (2020) Multi-locus phylogeny of the genus Curvularia and description of ten new species. Mycological Progress 19:559–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Norphanphoun C, Raspé O, Jeewon R et al (2019) Morphological and phylogenetic characterization of novel pestalotioid species associated with mangroves in Thailand. MycoKeys 10(1):531–578. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.38.28011

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr Vishwakalyan Bhoyroo and his team for the provision of samples. The authors also thank the staff of the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Science of the University of Mauritius for their help.

Funding

This study was supported by the University of Mauritius under grant number Q0200 and the MPhil/PhD scholarship of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Republic of Mauritius

    Jessica Mélanie Wong Chin & Daneshwar Puchooa

  2. ANDI Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research (CBBR), Department of Biosciences and Ocean Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Republic of Mauritius

    Theeshan Bahorun

  3. Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Republic of Mauritius

    Rajesh Jeewon

Authors
  1. Jessica Mélanie Wong Chin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daneshwar Puchooa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Theeshan Bahorun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rajesh Jeewon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajesh Jeewon.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Significance Statement

This study aims to isolate and identify selected fast-growing marine fungi associated with sponge and algae from Mauritius. It demonstrates that the ITS rDNA regions, which are commonly used for fungal identification, are useful for genus level identification.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wong Chin, J.M., Puchooa, D., Bahorun, T. et al. Molecular characterization of marine fungi associated with Haliclona sp. (sponge) and Turbinaria conoides and Sargassum portierianum (brown algae). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 91, 643–656 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-021-01229-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-021-01229-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation