Hypericum perforatum L. (Hypericaceae), commonly known as St. John's wort, is a plant of medicinal interest. Indeed, Hypericum perforatum produce metabolites with antidepressant, antifungal and antibacterial activities.
Endophytic fungi play a very important role in affecting the quality and quantity of metabolites produced by the medicinal plants through a specific fungus-host interaction. In addition, endophytic fungi increase the adaptability of their host plants and, through the production of bioactive compounds, can increase plant growth and plant tolerances to biotic and abiotic stresses such as pathogens, herbivores,
and environmental changes.
The aim of this proposal is to analyse, through molecular biology techniques, the presence and diversity of Hypericum perforatum fungal endophytes in order to acquire knowledge on the composition of the fungal endophytic community in our climate and
geographical region.
Analysis of Hypericum perforatum fungal endophytes will be aimed to evaluate:
- the difference in endophytic fungal community between plants cultivated in agricultural fields and spontaneous plants.
- the difference in fungal diversity among the different plant organs
-the overlap between the endophytic fungal community present in the organs of the plant and the fungal community present in the adjacent soil
The importance of this project lies in its nature of basic research on a topic of great importance such as a medicinal plant (Hypericum perforatum) of great and growing interest. Given the ability of endophytic fungi to promote and increase plants production of bioactive metabolites, a better knowledge of the composition of the fungal endophyte community of Hypericum perforatum can lead to future application developments based on it.
The innovative nature of this project resides both in the comparison of spontaneous and cultivated specimens both in the geographic area where the research will be conducted. Indeed, despite the great interest arisen in the past years around Hypericum perforatum and fungal endophytes, no one to the best of my knowledge has already compared differences between the endophytic biodiversity in spontaneous and cultivated plants of this species. Indeed, the composition of biologically active compounds of medicinal plants varies widely depending also on their association with microbes (Egamberdieva et al., 2017 DOI10.3389/fmicb.2017.00199). Considering the current increase of areas used to cultivate Hypericum perforatum and the well-known negative influence of agriculture on soil biodiversity, understanding whether or not agricultural practices may affect also endophytic biodiversity could be a first step towards enhancing practices to assure a better quality of the Hypericum perforatum derivates products.
Although several studies on Hypericum endophytes have already been carried out, no study has already been conducted in Italy, thus producing data related to local climate and environmental conditions.
Furthermore, the studies present in the literature on Hypericum perforatum endophytes have been carried out through traditional isolation techniques dependent on the cultivation of the strains and not by molecular techniques, providing data that consider only the culturable microorganisms thus neglecting a significant component of endophytic diversity.
Lastly, this project importance lies also in in the necessity of studies of endophytic fungi to provide information fundamental for evaluating global fungal diversity and distribution (Torres and White, 2012 DOI 10.13140/2.1.3835.2169).