Correlation in endophytic fungi community diversity and bioactive compounds of Sophora alopecuroides

Mingxiu Ju; Qingchen Zhang; Ruotong Wang; Siyuan Yan; Zhengnan Li; Peng Li; Peiwen Gu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.955647

Correlation in endophytic fungi community diversity and bioactive compounds of Sophora alopecuroides

Front Microbiol. 2022 Aug 31:13:955647. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.955647. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Mingxiu Ju¹, Qingchen Zhang², Ruotong Wang¹, Siyuan Yan¹, Zhengnan Li³, Peng Li⁴, Peiwen Gu¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China.
² Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
³ College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China.

Abstract

Sophora alopecuroides L. is a traditional Chinese medicine used for the treatment of several different disease states including bacillary dysentery and enteritis. But importantly, it also plays a role as an anti-tumor agent. That said, little is known about the role endophytes play regarding the clinically bioactive metabolites in S. alopecuroides. In order to explore the effects of endophytic fungi on the accumulation, quality, and correlation in the content of the medicinal compounds, the structural diversity of endophytic fungi in S. alopecuroides was analyzed. The relationship between endophytes and quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs), housed within the seeds of S. alopecuroides, which were interpreted based on established methods of high-throughput sequencing and high-performance liquid chromatography. A total of 1,034,418 effective sequence reads and 257 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained from 33 samples which were sourced from 11 different sampling sites and further classified into 9 phyla, 20 classes, 45 orders, 85 families, and 118 genera. Ascomycota was found to be the dominant phylum of endophytic fungi in S. alopecuroides, with a relative abundance ranging from 60.85 to 98.30%. Alternaria, Cladosporium, Filobasidium, and an unidentified Ascomycota were the core-shared endophytes, accounting for 49.96, 27.12, 14.83, and 7.88%, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the Simpson's diversity index of endophytic fungal community in S. alopecuroides was significantly positively correlated with the Oxymatrine (OMA) content in different areas, while the Chao and Shannoneven indexes were significantly negatively correlated with OMA. The endophytic fungi of Alternaria were positively correlated with the content of OMA, Oxysophocarpine (OSC), and total QAs. This study has mastered the endophytic fungi resources of S. alopecuroides, explored potential functional endophytic fungi, and provided a scientific basis for using biological fertilization strategies to improve the quality of S. alopecuroides.

Keywords: Sophora alopecuroides; fungal endophyte; high-throughput sequencing; medicinal plant; quinolizidine alkaloids.