Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Ecology and Biodiversity / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Ecology and Biodiversity / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Rhododendron tomentosum is an evergreen shrub with a high content of secondary metabolites, particularly essential oils with antimicrobial effects. Diversity of endophytic fungi in this species and their possible adaptation to growth in the essential oil environment is not much explored. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to reveal the diversity of endophytic fungi colonising leaves of R. tomentosum on seven localities in the Czech Republic and one in Estonia. I isolated and determined (using comparison of ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA with the sequences from GenBank and morphological signs) 37 species of endophytic fungi. Among them the ubiquitous species colonising the most of the plants as endophytes were dominant. The second aim of my thesis was to explore whether the essential oil from R. tomentosum influences its endophytic fungi. The hypothesis that the strains obtained from R. tomentosum would be adapted to growth in the environment of the essential oil was postulated. I supposed that they would grow better on mediums with different concentrations of these chemical compounds added, in comparison with strains of the same species obtained from different substrates. Within four of seven species tested, the strains obtained from R. tomentosum grew better, but also on the medium without the...