Dissertation Research: Endophytic Fungi in the Palm Euterpe oleracea

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This proposal seeks funds for 4 months of field work in Brazil, and 3 months in Switzerland for completion of a Ph.D. dissertation by Katia F. Rodrigues. The study concerns endophytic fungi in leaflets of the Amazonian palm Euterpe oleracea mart. in Brazil and biochemical/nutritional studies of those fungi in Switzerland. The work will be essentially taxonomic and ecological. The following parameters will be considered: season, subsite, tree age, leaf age, and tissue specificity. The biochemical studies will be undertaken in collaboration with Dr. Orlando Petrini (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich). This research will result in a descriptive catalogue, with keys for identification, of the endophytic fungi found within leaves of E. oleracea. Endophytes found in trees grown in a wet versus a dry site will be compared and a study of the distribution of endophytic fungi within plant leaf tissues will be undertaken. A biochemical study of the abilities of the endophytic fungi to produce cell-wall lysing enzymes, and phytoalexins is included. The work will provide a database containing taxonomic and ecological characteristics of those fungi that will be available to other workers.