Molecular identification of fungi associated with mangrove leaf diseases of Rhizophora mucronata and Rhizophora stylosa collected from Pasar Banggi village, Rembang regency

The mangrove ecosystem in Pasar Banggi Village, Rembang Regency, is the result of rehabilitation conducted by the government and local community since 1996. One of the main challenges in this area is mangrove leaf disease, which has the potential to disrupt physiological functions and ecosystem sustainability. This study aimed to identify endophytic fungi that suspected as pathogens associated with mangrove leaf disease through morphological and molecular approaches, and to construct phylogenetic tree between related species. We isolated fungi from symptomatic mangrove leaves and identified them based on morphological characters and DNA sequence analysis. The results showed that isolates RMB.M and RMB.M(1) were identified as Aspergillus tennesseensis and Aspergillus aflatoxiformans with sequence identity level of 100%. Furtheremore, isolate RMB.S10-2 had 97.81% sequence identity with Aspergillus sydowii and was classified as a closely related species, while isolate RMB.S10-3 was identified as yeast Pichia kudriavzevii with 100% similarity. Phylogenetic tree analysis confirmed the grouping of isolates according to their genus with high bootstrap support. These findings provide preliminary information on the diversity of fungi associated with mangrove leaf diseases in Pasar Banggi village and its implications for mangrove ecosystem health and management.