PRJNA727013
Fungal endophytes vary by species, tissue type, and life cycle stage in intertidal macroalgae
Whereas fungal symbionts of terrestrial plants have been studied more elaborately, relatively little is known about fungi that are associated with the marine counterparts of plants; macroalgae. As a result, only few of these fungal taxa have been described, and for many those there is no sequence data available the reference databases. Contemporary sequencing based methods to study diversity, such as for example high throughput amplicon sequencing, are therefore limited as well. However, using such DNA-based or cultivation independent methods, patterns in distribution and abundance of unclassified or yet undescribed taxa can still be studied. Moreover, when combined with traditional cultivation assays, isolates can be retrieved in the context of these patterns. In the present characterized fungal communities associated with different macroalgae in an intertidal habitat, combining a cultivation dependent and independent approach. Our data shows that fungal assemblages differ compositionally among tissue types and vary also among life cycle stages within the red alga Chondrus crispus.