New Records of Two Endophytic Fungi, Pleiocarpon strelitziae, Neodidymelliopsis tinkyukuku, from Korea

New Records of Two Endophytic Fungi, Pleiocarpon strelitziae, Neodidymelliopsis tinkyukuku, from Korea

Eun-Ju Kim and Ahn-Heum Eom*

Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju 28173, Korea

*E-mail: eomah@knue.ac.kr

Endophytic fungi inhabit internal plant tissues without causing visible symptoms and often benefit their hosts by promoting growth, enhancing stress tolerance, and producing bioactive compounds. In this study, we isolated two endophytic fungi from the roots of Paeonia lactiflora and the twigs of Gleditsia triacanthos in Korea. Morphological characteristics and multilocus phylogenetic analyses based on ITS, LSU, TUB and RPB2 regions identified these isolates as Pleiocarpon strelitziae and Neodidymelliopsis tinkyukuku. These species were previously unrecorded in Korea. These results expand the known diversity of endophytic fungi in Korea and provides a basis for further understanding of their ecological roles and biotechnological potential.