Ferns represent the basal group of vascular plants and are known to have fungal interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, but diversity of endophytic fungi from ferns is rarely studied. Moreover, fungal diversity associated with ferns is likely underestimated as most studies have been performed based on a microscopic or culture-dependent approach. In this study, we investigated the endophytic fungal diversity within roots and sporophore of an endangered Korean fern (Mankyua chejuense), and compared it to fungi in surrounding soil using a metabarcoding approach. A high diversity of endophytic fungi (236 OTUs), mostly belonging to Ascomycota, was detected and fungal richness and composition were significantly different between habitats. Indicator species analysis showed that endophytic fungi have similar ecological characteristics to fungal species found from other land plants. Our results suggest that various fungal species are associated with ferns, thus understanding fern-associated fungal diversity can have a great implication for fern biology and conservation.

蕨类代表维管植物的基础群，已知与丛枝菌根真菌有真菌相互作用，但很少研究蕨类植物内生真菌的多样性。此外，与蕨类植物相关的真菌多样性可能被低估了，因为大多数研究都是基于显微镜或依赖于培养物的方法进行的。在这项研究中，我们调查了濒临灭绝的朝鲜蕨（Mankyua chejuense）的根和孢子体内生真菌的多样性），并使用元条形码方法将其与周围土壤中的真菌进行比较。检出了高度多样性的内生真菌（236个OTU，主要属于子囊菌），并且生境之间的真菌丰富度和组成存在显着差异。指标物种分析表明，内生真菌具有与其他陆地植物中发现的真菌相似的生态特征。我们的结果表明，各种真菌物种与蕨类植物相关，因此了解与蕨类植物相关的真菌多样性可能对蕨类植物的生物学和保护意义重大。