title: Bioactive endophytes warrant intensified exploration and conservation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A key argument in favor of conserving biodiversity is that as yet undiscovered biodiversity will yield products of great use to humans. However, the link between undiscovered biodiversity and useful products is largely conjectural. Here we provide direct evidence from bioassays of endophytes isolated from tropical plants and bioinformatic analyses that novel biology will indeed yield novel chemistry of potential value.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We isolated and cultured 135 endophytic fungi and bacteria from plants collected in Peru. nrDNAs were compared to samples deposited in GenBank to ascertain the genetic novelty of cultured specimens. Ten endophytes were found to be as much as 15-30% different than any sequence in GenBank. Phylogenetic trees, using the most similar sequences in GenBank, were constructed for each endophyte to measure phylogenetic distance. Assays were also conducted on each cultured endophyte to record bioactivity, of which 65 were found to be bioactive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novelty of our contribution is that we have combined bioinformatic analyses that document the diversity found in environmental samples with culturing and bioassays. These results highlight the hidden hyperdiversity of endophytic fungi and the urgent need to explore and conserve hidden microbial diversity. This study also showcases how undergraduate students can obtain data of great scientific significance.
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America. stephen.smith@yale.edu
authors: Stephen A
authors: SA
authors: Smith
authors: David C
authors: DC
authors: Tank
authors: Lori-Ann
authors: LA
authors: Boulanger
authors: Carol A
authors: CA
authors: Bascom-Slack
authors: Kaury
authors: K
authors: Eisenman
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Kingery
authors: Beatrice
authors: B
authors: Babbs
authors: Kathleen
authors: K
authors: Fenn
authors: Joshua S
authors: JS
authors: Greene
authors: Bradley D
authors: BD
authors: Hann
authors: Jocelyn
authors: J
authors: Keehner
authors: Elizabeth G
authors: EG
authors: Kelley-Swift
authors: Vivek
authors: V
authors: Kembaiyan
authors: Sun Jin
authors: SJ
authors: Lee
authors: Puyao
authors: P
authors: Li
authors: David Y
authors: DY
authors: Light
authors: Emily H
authors: EH
authors: Lin
authors: Cong
authors: C
authors: Ma
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Moore
authors: Michelle A
authors: MA
authors: Schorn
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Vekhter
authors: Percy V
authors: PV
authors: Nunez
authors: Gary A
authors: GA
authors: Strobel
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Donoghue
authors: Scott A
authors: SA
authors: Strobel
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010239:Paraguay; D010568:Peru; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012331:RNA, Fungal