Dataset Information

Reciprocal Effects of Silicon Supply and Endophytes on Silicon Accumulation and Epichloe Colonization in Grasses.

ABSTRACT: Cool season grasses associate asymptomatically with foliar Epichloë endophytic fungi in a symbiosis where Epichloë spp. protects the plant from a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, many grass species can accumulate large quantities of silicon (Si), which also alleviates a similar range of stresses. While Epichloë endophytes may improve uptake of minerals and nutrients, their impact on Si is largely unknown. Likewise, the effect of Si availability on Epichloë colonization remains untested. To assess the bidirectional relationship, we grew tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) hydroponically with or without Si. Grasses were associated with five different Epichloë endophyte strains [tall fescue: AR584 or wild type (WT); perennial ryegrass: AR37, AR1, or WT] or as Epichloë-free controls. Reciprocally beneficial effects were observed for tall fescue associations. Specifically, Epichloë presence increased Si concentration in the foliage of tall fescue by at least 31%, regardless of endophyte strain. In perennial ryegrass, an increase in foliar Si was observed only for plants associated with the AR37. Epichloë promotion of Si was (i) independent of responses in plant growth, and (ii) positively correlated with endophyte colonization, which lends support to an endophyte effect independent of their impacts on root growth. Moreover, Epichloë colonization in tall fescue increased by more than 60% in the presence of silicon; however, this was not observed in perennial ryegrass. The reciprocal benefits of Epichloë-endophytes and foliar Si accumulation reported here, especially for tall fescue, might further increase grass tolerance to stress.

SUBMITTER: Cibils-Stewart X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7652995 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Reciprocal Effects of Silicon Supply and Endophytes on Silicon Accumulation and Epichloë Colonization in Grasses.

Cibils-Stewart Ximena X Powell Jeff R JR Popay Alison Jean AJ Lattanzi Fernando Alfredo FA Hartley Sue Elaine SE Johnson Scott Nicholas SN

Frontiers in plant science 20201027

Cool season grasses associate asymptomatically with foliar Epichloë endophytic fungi in a symbiosis where Epichloë spp. protects the plant from a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, many grass species can accumulate large quantities of silicon (Si), which also alleviates a similar range of stresses. While Epichloë endophytes may improve uptake of minerals and nutrients, their impact on Si is largely unknown. Likewise, the effect of Si availability on Epich ...[more]

PMID: 33193551

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Project description:Epichloë endophytes are common symbionts living asymptomatically in pooid grasses and may provide chemical defences against herbivorous insects. While the mechanisms underlying these fungal defences have been well studied, it remains unknown whether endophyte presence affects the host's own defences. We addressed this issue by examining variation in the impact of Epichloë on constitutive and herbivore-induced emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), a well-known indirect plant defence, between two grass species, Schedonorus phoenix (ex. Festuca arundinacea; tall fescue) and Festuca pratensis (meadow fescue). We found that feeding by a generalist aphid species, Rhopalosiphum padi, induced VOC emissions by uninfected plants of both grass species but to varying extents, while mechanical wounding failed to do so in both species after one day of damage. Interestingly, regardless of damage treatment, Epichloë uncinata-infected F. pratensis emitted significantly lower quantities of VOCs than their uninfected counterparts. In contrast, Epichloë coenophiala-infected S. phoenix did not differ from their uninfected counterparts in constitutive VOC emissions but tended to increase VOC emissions under intense aphid feeding. A multivariate analysis showed that endophyte status imposed stronger differences in VOC profiles of F. pratensis than damage treatment, while the reverse was true for S. phoenix. Additionally, both endophytes inhibited R. padi population growth as measured by aphid dry biomass, with the inhibition appearing greater in E. uncinata-infected F. pratensis. Our results suggest, not only that Epichloë endophytes may play important roles in mediating host VOC responses to herbivory, but also that the magnitude and direction of such responses may vary with the identity of the Epichloë-grass symbiosis. Whether Epichloë-mediated host VOC responses will eventually translate into effects on higher trophic levels merits future investigation.

Project description:Symptomless fungal endophytes in the genus Epichloë are repeatedly mentioned to increase tolerance of cool-season grasses to a wide range of environmental stress factors, mainly drought. However, the generality of this idea is challenged because (i) most studies have been conducted on two economically important forage grasses {tall fescue [Festuca arundinacea (Schreb.) Dumort] and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)}, (ii) endophyte-mediated mechanisms and effects on plant responses to drought have shown to be highly variable across species, and that (iii) symbiosis incidence in plant populations occurring in extremely arid environments is usually low. We question this idea by reviewing the existing information about Epichloë fungal endophyte effects on drought tolerance in cool-season grasses. We combined standard review, vote counting, and calculation of effect sizes to synthesize the literature, identify information gaps, and guide future research. The total number of studies was higher for domesticated than for wild species, a ratio that was balanced when papers with data quality for effect size calculus were considered. After the drought, endophyte-infected plants accumulated more aboveground and belowground biomass than non-infected counterparts, while no effect on tillering was observed. However, these effects remained significant for wild (even on tillering) but not for domesticated species. Interestingly, despite the continuous effort in determining physiological mechanisms behind the endophyte effects, no studies evaluated plant fecundity as a measure of ecological fitness nor vital rates (such as survival) as to escalate individual-level variables to population. Together with the high variability in results, our work shows that generalizing a positive effect of fungal endophytes in plant tolerance to drought may be misleading. Future studies combining field surveys with manipulative experiments would allow us to unravel the role of fungal endophytes in plant adaptation by considering the evolutionary history of species and populations to the different ecological contexts.

Dataset Information

Reciprocal Effects of Silicon Supply and Endophytes on Silicon Accumulation and Epichloe Colonization in Grasses.

Publications

Reciprocal Effects of Silicon Supply and Endophytes on Silicon Accumulation and <i>Epichloë</i> Colonization in Grasses.

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