Maheshwari, Asha and Mmbaga, Margaret, 2023, \"Replication Data for Fungal endophytes colonizing Cornus florida\",

Endophytic fungi that reside internally in healthy, asymptomatic plants often benefit their hosts by promoting plant growth and/or providing plant protection against abiotic and biotic stresses. A total of 369 isolates of fungal endophytes in 59 distinct taxa were isolated from stem samples of Cornus florida. All isolates belonged to species of phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota distributed across 5 orders and 11 genera. Diversity indices of the fungi revealed a rich and diverse community that included several species associated with leaf spots, blight, cankers, and/or dieback diseases and pathogenicity tests confirmed 16 fungal endophytes as C. florida pathogens. Fifty isolates were examined for extracellular hydrolytic enzymes such as cellulase, amylase, pectinase, laccase, chitinase, and protease that are known to function in tissue penetration, plant colonization, nutrient acquisition, and disease suppression