Two Unrecorded Endophytic Fungal Species from Codium fragile in Korea

Two Unrecorded Endophytic Fungal Species from Codium fragile in Korea

Tae-Ho Kim, Yu-Na Choi, Seong-Eun Kim, Ji-Won Kim, and Ahn-Heum Eom*

 

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

*Email: eomah@knue.ac.kr

In this study, we isolated endophytic fungi from the seaweed Codium fragile, collected from the intertidal zone of Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do and Uljin-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The fungal isolates were identified through morphological characteristics and molecular markers, including ITS, LSU, SSU, TEF and RPB2 partial sequences. As a result, we confirmed the presence of two fungal species not previously recorded in Korea: Diaporthe novem and Paradendryphiella arenariae. This study describes the morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of these newly recorded fungal species, thereby contributing to a better understanding of fungal diversity in the Korean marine ecosystem.