Grapevine endophytic fungi have great potential for application in agriculture and represent an important source of various compounds with valuable biological activities. Wild grapevine is known to host a great number of rare and unidentified endophytes and may represent a rich repository of potential vineyard biocontrol agents. This investigation aimed to study the fungal endophytic community of wild grape Vitis amurensis Rupr. using a cultivation-dependent (fungi sowing) and a cultivation-independent (next-generation sequencing, NGS) approach. A comprehensive analysis of the endophytic fungal community in different organs of V. amurensis and under different environmental conditions has been performed. According to the NGS analysis, 12 taxa of class level were presented in different grapevine organs (stem, leaf, berry, seed). Among the 12 taxa, sequences of two fungal classes were the most represented: Dothideomycetes-60% and Tremellomycetes-33%. The top five taxa included Vishniacozyma, Aureobasidiaceae, Cladosporium, Septoria and Papiliotrema. The highest number of fungal isolates and sequences were detected in the grape leaves. The present data also revealed that lower temperatures and increased precipitation favored the number and diversity of endophytic fungi in the wild Amur grape. The number of fungi recovered from grape tissues in autumn was two times higher than in summer. Thus, this study is the first to describe and analyze the biodiversity of the endophytic fungal community in wild grapevine V. amurensis.
Keywords: Alternaria spp.; Cladosporium spp.; ITS1; Vitis amurensis; biodiversity; endophytes; fungal diversity; fungal microbiome; fungi; grapevine; next-generation sequencing.