Diversity of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Chamaecyparis obtusa in Jeju-do of Korea

Endophytic fungi live in the internal tissues of the host plant without harming. They act various biological functions such as promoting the growth of host plants and protecting plants against plant pathogens. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity of endophytic fungi inhabiting Chamaecyparis obtusa, which is the perennial evergreen tree distributed in the southern Korea. We isolated endophytic fungi from sterilized leaves of C. obtusa collected from various sites of Jeju-do. The isolates were identified using morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of ITS region of rDNA. We isolated 30 strains and 21 species of endophytic fungi. This study is the first reports of endophytic fungi isolated from C. obtusa inhabiting Jeju-do of Korea.