Morphological and Molecular Identification of Fungi Isolated from Different Environmental Sources in Northern Eastern Jordan Deseret.

This study is aimed at isolating and identifying filamentous fungi from different environmental sources in the northern eastern Jordanian Desert. The fungal species were isolated from soil and plant parts (Fruits and leaves). The samples were collected from different geographical locations in the northern eastern Desert in Jordan. The isolation of fungi from leaves and fruits was implemented by inoculating (1ml) from serial dilutions (10P -3 P- 10P -6 P) on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plates. The plates were incubated at 28?C for one week, then the fungal colonies were observed and pure cultures were maintained. The identification of fungi at the genus level was carried out by using macroscopic and microscopic examinations depending on the colony color, shape, hyphae, conidia, conidiophores and arrangement of spores. For the molecular identification of the isolated fungi at the species level, the extracted fungal DNA was amplified by PCR using specific internal transcribed spacer primer (ITS1/ITS4). The PCR products were sequenced and compared with the other related sequences in GenBank (NCBI). Eight fungal species were identified as: Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tubingensis, Alternaria tenuissima, Alternaria alternate, Alternaria gaisen, Rhizopus stolonifer, Penicillium citrinum, and Fusarium oxysporum. The results showed that the Aspergillus niger was the most abundant fungus obtained from all the locations and resources, while the Alternaria tenuissima was the less prevalent one. It was also noticed that two of the Alternaria species colonized the leaves of plants at different locations. Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus tubingensis, and Fusarium oxysporum were isolated and identified from all resources and locations.