Fungal endophytes vary by species, tissue type, and life cycle stage in intertidal macroalgae

Abstract

<jats:p>Fungal symbionts of terrestrial plants are among the most widespread and well‐studied symbioses, relatively little is known about fungi that are associated with macroalgae. To fill the gap in marine fungal taxonomy, we combined simple culture methods with amplicon sequencing to characterize the fungal communities associated with three brown (<jats:italic>Sargassum muticum</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Pelvetia canaliculata</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Himanthalia elongata</jats:italic>) and two red (<jats:italic>Mastocarpus stellatus</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Chondrus crispus</jats:italic>) macroalgae from one intertidal zone. In addition to characterizing novel fungal diversity, we tested three hypotheses: fungal diversity and community composition vary (i) among species distributed at different tidal heights, (ii) among tissue types (apices, mid‐thallus, and stipe), and (iii) among “isomorphic” <jats:italic>C. crispus</jats:italic> life cycle stages. Almost 70% of our reads were classified as Ascomycota, 29% as Basidiomycota, and 1% that could not be classified to a phylum. Thirty fungal isolates were obtained, 18 of which were also detected with amplicon sequencing. Fungal communities differed by host and tissue type. Interestingly, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic>. <jats:italic>canaliculata</jats:italic>, a fucoid at the extreme high intertidal, did not show differences in fungal diversity across the thallus. As found in filamentous algal endophytes, fungal diversity varied among the three life cycle stages in <jats:italic>C</jats:italic>. <jats:italic>crispus</jats:italic>. Female gametophytes were also compositionally more dispersed as compared to the fewer variable tetrasporophytes and male gametophytes. We demonstrate the utility of combining relatively simple cultivation and sequencing approaches to characterize and study macroalgal–fungal associations and highlight the need to understand the role of fungi in near‐shore marine ecosystems.</jats:p>