Isolation and Identification of Endophytic Fungi: The Uninvited and Unnoticed Guests

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2016, Volume 37

Alma Rodriquez Estrada

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are fungi that grow in association with plants without causing any disease symptoms. The workshop "endophytic fungi: the uninvited and unnoticed guests" relates to a semester long project where students carry on an individual investigation involving the isolation and identification of endophytic fungi from plant samples. In this mini-workshop techniques such as surface sterilization, preparation of wet-mount from fungal cultures, the use of keys to identify filamentous fungi based on microscopic characters were demonstrated. This project has been implemented in a mycology course with the purpose of teaching and/or reinforcing concepts related to morphology of filamentous fungi, fungal diversity and fungal ecology. Likewise, this project exposes students to scientific inquiry, and supports the development of problem solving and organizational skills. Although this project has been implemented in a mycology course, it could easily be adapted to courses such as general biology, biology of cells, biology of organisms or microbiology.

Keywords:  diversity, microscopy, identification, endophytic fungi

Boston University (2015)