Integrative Morphological and Molecular Taxonomy of 4 species of Macrofungi from High-Altitude Ecosystems of Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67244/jai.bwo-researches.v4i3.a234Keywords:
Macrofungi, Genetic distance, Basidiomycetes, Ascomycetes, PCR, Phylogeny, RAPDAbstract
Fungus (plural fungi) is a Latin word meaning “mushroom” and is defined as a member of eukaryotes group that includes unicellular microorganisms, for example, yeast and molds, and multicellular fungi which produce fruiting forms commonly called mushrooms (Moore, 1980). The District Hunza represents a floristically rich area characterized mostly by moist and dry temperate forests with rich macrofungal diversity. Macrofungi are primary decomposers in alpine and subalpine ecosystems. They break down complex organic matter such as leaf litter, woody debris, and animal remains into simpler compounds. The study was carried out from March to August in the study area. Planned field visits were arranged to the selected localities during which macrofungal species were collected and identified using macro- and micro-morphological characters as well as at the molecular level. In this connection, DNA was extracted using standard molecular methodologies such as PCR amplification. The present study is the first documented attempt to estimate the genetic diversity of some important macrofungi from Gilgit-Baltistan using DNA-based markers. During the study, fourteen fungal species were analyzed using eleven Randomly Amplified Polymorphic (RAPD) primers. Bivariate data were used to estimate the genetic diversity in the four fungal accessions using unpaired group of arithmetic mean (UPGMA) procedure. A high level of genetic diversity ranging from 40% to 80 % was observed in the fungal species. The samples of accessions were also grouped into 7 clusters using dendrogram analysis. The present research highlights the critical importance of conserving fungal biodiversity while advancing taxonomic knowledge through genetic diversity analysis, providing a robust framework for accurate species identification, evolutionary understanding, and the sustainable management of ecologically vital fungal communities.
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