Beata Zimowska (1), Agnieszka Ludwiczuk (2), Gelsomina Manganiello (3), Krzysztof Wojtanowski (2), Izabela Kot (1), Alessia Staropoli (3), Francesco Vinale (4) and Rosario Nicoletti (3,5,*)
(1) Department of Plant Protection, University of Life Sciences, 20-400 Lublin, Poland; beata.zimowska@up.lublin.pl (B.Z.); izabela.kot@up.lublin.pl (I.K.)
(2) Department of Pharmacognosy with the Medicinal Plant Garden, Medical University of Lublin, 20-439 Lublin, Poland; agnieszka.ludwiczuk@umlub.pl (A.L.)
(3) Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples ‘Federico II’, 80055 Portici, Italy; gelsomina.manganiello@unina.it (G.M.); alessia.staropoli@unina.it (A.S.)
(4) Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples ‘Federico II’, 80138 Naples, Italy; fr.vinale@unina.it
(5) Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, 81100 Caserta, Italy
(*) Correspondence: rosario.nicoletti@crea.gov.it
A B S T R A C T
In recent years, the number of reports of Fusariumin associationwith hazelnut (Corylus avellana) has been increasing worldwide, related to both pathogenic aptitude and endophytic occurrence. However, the assessment of the real ecological role and relevance to plant health of these fungi has been impaired by uncertainty in species identification, deriving from both the evolving taxonomic structure of the genus and an inaccurate use of molecular markers. In this paper, the characterization of two hazelnut endophytic strains isolated in Poland is reported with reference to their secondary metabolite profiles and interactions with pests and pathogens. Our results are indicative of a possible role of these strains in defensive mutualismwhich could be related to the production of several bioactive compounds, especially cyclohexadepsipeptides of the enniatin family. At the same time, these biochemical properties create some concern for the possible mycotoxin contamination of hazelnut products.
Keywords: defensive mutualism; endophytic fungi; enniatins; Fusarium citricola species complex; mycotoxins; phylogenetic analysis.
