Fungi colonized on wood sticks of the Chinese fir
Cunninghamia lanceolata
after incubation in soil around the
Ficus microcarpa
trees were isolated. In total, 1189 wood
sticks from 28
F. microcarpa trees were sampled and analyzed
in this study. A combined approach of culture morphological
observation and PCR amplification of ITS of
purified fungal isolates in revealing restriction fragment
length polymorphism patterns was applied to group the purified
fungal isolates for further species identification. Fungal
species were identified based on phylogenetic analysis of
ITS and β-tubulin gene-amplified sequences. Overall, 25
species belonging to 17 genera from four classes were
identified, and all of them were Ascomycota. Among them,
Penicillium
spp.,
Fusarium
spp., and
Phoma insulana
were
the most frequently isolated. In this study,
Dichotomonyces cejpii,
Fusicolla acetilerea
, and
Purpureocillium lilacinum
are recorded in Hong Kong for the first time. Some species of
the fungal cultures obtained in this study may have potential
application as biocontrol agents to control tree disease.