Dataset Information

Interactive effects of juvenile defoliation, light conditions, and interspecific competition on growth and ectomycorrhizal colonization of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris seedlings.

ABSTRACT: Seedlings of forest tree species are exposed to a number of abiotic (organ loss or damage, light shortage) and biotic (interspecific competition) stress factors, which may lead to an inhibition of growth and reproduction and, eventually, to plant death. Growth of the host and its mycorrhizal symbiont is often closely linked, and hence, host damage may negatively affect the symbiont. We designed a pot experiment to study the response of light-demanding Pinus sylvestris and shade-tolerant Fagus sylvatica seedlings to a set of abiotic and biotic stresses and subsequent effects on ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root tip colonization, seedling biomass, and leaf nitrogen content. The light regime had a more pronounced effect on ECM colonization than did juvenile damage. The interspecific competition resulted in higher ECM root tip abundance for Pinus, but this effect was insignificant in Fagus. Low light and interspecific competition resulted in lower seedling biomass compared to high light, and the effect of the latter was partially masked by high light. Leaf nitrogen responded differently in Fagus and Pinus when they grew in interspecific competition. Our results indicated that for both light-demanding (Pinus) and shade-tolerant (Fagus) species, the light environment was a major factor affecting seedling growth and ECM root tip abundance. The light conditions favorable for the growth of seedlings may to some extent compensate for the harmful effects of juvenile organ loss or damage and interspecific competition.

SUBMITTER: Trocha LK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4700103 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interactive effects of juvenile defoliation, light conditions, and interspecific competition on growth and ectomycorrhizal colonization of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris seedlings.

Trocha Lidia K LK Weiser Ewa E Robakowski Piotr P

Mycorrhiza 20150524 1

Seedlings of forest tree species are exposed to a number of abiotic (organ loss or damage, light shortage) and biotic (interspecific competition) stress factors, which may lead to an inhibition of growth and reproduction and, eventually, to plant death. Growth of the host and its mycorrhizal symbiont is often closely linked, and hence, host damage may negatively affect the symbiont. We designed a pot experiment to study the response of light-demanding Pinus sylvestris and shade-tolerant Fagus sy ...[more]

PMID: 26003665

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Symbiotic ectomycorrhizal associations of fungi with forest trees play important and economically significant roles in the nutrition, growth and health of boreal forest trees, as well as in nutrient cycling. The ecology and physiology of ectomycorrhizal associations with Pinus sp are very well documented but very little is known about the molecular mechanisms behind these mutualistic interactions with gymnosperms as compared to angiosperms. RESULTS: Using a micro-array approach, the relative abundance of 2109 EST transcripts during interaction of Pinus sylvestris roots with the ectomycorrhizal fungus was profiled. The results reveal significant differential expression of a total of 236 ESTs, 96 transcripts differentially abundant after 1 day of physical contact with the fungus, 134 transcripts after 5 days and only 6 after 15 days at early stages of mantle formation on emerging lateral roots. A subset of cell wall modification and stress related genes was further assessed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR at late stages of mycorrhizal development coinciding with Hartig net formation. The results reveal down regulation of gene transcripts involved in general defence mechanism (e.g. antimicrobial peptide) as well as those involved in cell wall modification (e.g. glycine rich protein, xyloglucan endo transglycosylase). CONCLUSION: This study constitutes the first attempt to characterize the transcriptome of the plant partner in the Pinus sylvestris - Laccaria bicolor model system. We identified 236 ESTs which are potentially important for molecular regulation of a functional symbiotic association in conifer host. The results highlight similarities with other studies based on angiosperm model systems, nevertheless some differences were found in the timing and spatial scale of gene regulation during ectomycorrhiza development in gymnosperms. The present study has identified a number of potentially important molecular events responsible for the initiation and regulation of biochemical, physiological and morphological changes during development of a fully functional symbiosis that are relevant for gymnosperm hosts.

Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding and predicting the response of tree populations to climate change requires understanding the pattern and scale of their adaptation. Climate is often considered the major driver of local adaptation but, although biotic factors such as soil pathogens or mutualists could be as important, their role has typically been neglected. Biotic drivers might also interact with climate to affect performance and mycorrhizae, in particular, are likely to play a key role in determining drought resistance, which is important in the context of adaptation to future environmental change. To address these questions, we performed a fully reciprocal soil-plant transplant experiment using Fagus sylvatica seedlings and soils from three regions in Germany. To separate the biotic and abiotic effects of inoculation, half of the plants were inoculated with natural soil from the different origins, while the rest were grown on sterilized substrate. We also imposed a drought stress treatment to test for interactions between soil biota and climate. After 1 year of growth, we measured aboveground biomass of all seedlings, and quantified mycorrhizal colonization for a subset of the seedlings, which included all soil-plant combinations, to disentangle the effect of mycorrhiza from other agents.ResultsWe found that plant origin had the strongest effect on plant performance, but this interacted with soil origin. In general, trees showed a slight tendency to produce less aboveground biomass on local soils, suggesting soil antagonists could be causing trees to be maladapted to their local soils. Consistently, we found lower mycorrhizal colonization rate under local soil conditions. Across all soils, seedlings from low elevations produced more annual biomass than middle (+ 290%) and high (+ 97%) elevations. Interestingly, mycorrhizal colonization increased with drought in the two provenances that showed higher drought tolerance, which supports previous results showing that mycorrhizae can increase drought resistance.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that soil communities play a role in affecting early performance of temperate trees, although this role may be smaller than that of seed origin. Also, other effects, such as the positive response to generalists or negative interactions with soil biota may be as important as the highly specialized mycorrhizal associations.

Dataset Information

Interactive effects of juvenile defoliation, light conditions, and interspecific competition on growth and ectomycorrhizal colonization of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris seedlings.

Publications

Interactive effects of juvenile defoliation, light conditions, and interspecific competition on growth and ectomycorrhizal colonization of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris seedlings.

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