The diversity of ericaceous root fungi in the Albany hotspot, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

The Albany Centre of Endemism (ACOE) more commonly referred to as the Albany hotspot in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa is floristically diverse containing ca. 4000 plants species, 15 % of which are endemic. The current study seeks to establish the diversity of fungi associating with the roots of selected Erica species using culture-dependent Sanger sequencing and 454 pyrosequencing techniques.