Diversity of culturable endophytic fungi of Hevea guianensis: A latex producer native tree from the Brazilian Amazon

Hevea guianensis is a species of rubber tree native to the Amazon rainforest. This tree is highly exploited for latex extraction but is not cultivated. Therefore, few studies have investigated its microbiota. The aim of this study was to analyze the diversity of endophytic fungi in the leaves, stems and roots of H. guianensis trees from the Brazilian Amazon. A total of 92 fungi were isolated from different tissues of this plant species. These isolates were grouped into 28 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The dominant phylum was Ascomycota (96.73%). The stem cortex showed the greatest fungal richness and diversity, although the frequency of isolates was highest in the leaves. The fungal isolates of leaves were highly heterogeneous than those of stem and roots. Colletotrichum was the most well-represented and abundant genera in the leaves; Diaporthe was the second most abundant genus in the leaves; Penicillium was the main genus obtained from the roots; the genera Lasiodiplodia, Purpureocillium, Phyllosticta, Daldinia and Pseudofusicoccum were recovered only from the leaves; whereas the genera Trichoderma and Fusarium were isolated from the stems and roots of H. guianensis. Thus, we describe the endophytic fungi of H. guianensis of great biotechnological interest, such as Trichoderma.