Project description:Two potato cultivars, Russet Burbank and Bionta, were inoculated with three different endophytes containing different AHL types. The impact of the endophytes to the different cultivars was measured by gene expression analysis with a customized microarray
Project description:Two potato cultivars, Russet Burbank and Bionta, were inoculated with three different endophytes containing different AHL types. The impact of the endophytes to the different cultivars was measured by gene expression analysis with a customized microarray B. phytofirmans type strain PsJN was originally isolated as a contaminant from surface-sterilized, Glomus vesculiferum-infected onion roots (Nowak et al., 1998), whereas strain P6 RG6-12 was isolated from the rhizosphere of a grassland in the Netherlands (Salles et al., 2006). This strain was selected based on its similarity to strain PsJN based on 16S rRNA gene homology, and similar phenotypic features. Both strains were generally cultivated on King's medium (King et al., 1954). For the mutant AHL to the strain B. phytofirmans PsJN a quorum quenching approach as described by Wopperer et al., 2006 was employed. Plasmid pMLBAD-aiiA, which contains aiiA, the Bacillus sp. 240B1 lactonase gene, was transferred to B. phytofirmans PsJN by triparental mating as described by de Lorenzo and Timmis (1994). 2 cultivars, 3 endophytes
Project description:Broad-host root endophytes establish long-term interactions with a large variety of plants, thereby playing a significant role in natural and managed ecosystems and in evolution of land plants. To exploit plants as living substrates and to establish a compatible interaction with morphologically and biochemically extremely different hosts, endophytes must respond and adapt to different plant signals and host metabolic states. Here we identified host-adapted colonization strategies and host-specific effector candidates of the mutualistic root endophyte Piriformospora indica by a global investigation of fungal transcriptional responses to barley and Arabidopsis at different symbiotic stages. Additionally we examined the role played by nitrogen in these two diverse associations. Cytological studies and colonization analyses of a barley mutant and fungal RNAi strains show that distinct physiological and metabolic signals regulate host-specific lifestyle in P. indica. This is the foundation for exploring how distinct fungal and host symbiosis determinants modulate biotrophy in one host and saprotrophy in another host and, ultimately, gives hints into the mechanisms underlying host adaptation in root symbioses.
Project description:Broad-host root endophytes establish long-term interactions with a large variety of plants, thereby playing a significant role in natural and managed ecosystems and in evolution of land plants. To exploit plants as living substrates and to establish a compatible interaction with morphologically and biochemically extremely different hosts, endophytes must respond and adapt to different plant signals and host metabolic states. Here we identified host-adapted colonization strategies and host-specific effector candidates of the mutualistic root endophyte Piriformospora indica by a global investigation of fungal transcriptional responses to barley and Arabidopsis at different symbiotic stages. Additionally we examined the role played by nitrogen in these two diverse associations. Cytological studies and colonization analyses of a barley mutant and fungal RNAi strains show that distinct physiological and metabolic signals regulate host-specific lifestyle in P. indica. This is the foundation for exploring how distinct fungal and host symbiosis determinants modulate biotrophy in one host and saprotrophy in another host and, ultimately, gives hints into the mechanisms underlying host adaptation in root symbioses. Arabidopsis and barley roots were inoculated with Piriformospora indica and grown for 14 days. Additionally P. indica was grown on 1/10 PNM medium alone. Samples were taken 3 and 14 dpi (Arabidopsis), 14 dpi (barley) and 3dpi (1/10 PNM). Each experiment was performed in three independent biological repetitions. Piriformospora indica gene expression examined only.
Project description:Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most cultivated cool-season grass worldwide with crucial roles in carbon fixation and fodder for livestock. Protection of these grasses from biotic and abiotic factors are dictated through a mutually-beneficial relationship with endophytes that confer bioprotective properties. Common endophytes of the genus Epichloë promote the health and survival of cool-season forages greases and protect the plants from fluctuating environmental conditions. Climate change, and specifically, a steady increase in atmospheric CO2 levels, presents a dramatic and imminent threat faced by our ecosystem, which poses substantial pressures on plant health and survival. Defining the relationships between endophytes and the host plant may uncover mechanisms of bioprotection, which can be exploited to promote adaptable plant systems in rising CO2 conditions. In this study, we quantify changes in biomass and seed production of L. perenne L. at 400 and 800 ppm CO2 and identify endophyte-specific changes in metabolite production. Additionally, we discover protein-level changes from both the endophyte and plant perspectives, which underscore the compatible relationship between a common, natural endophyte and L. perenne L., compared to an incompatible and detrimental relationship the epichloid strain, AR1. Taken together, our data set provides new understanding into the intricacy of compatibility between endophyte and host from multiple molecular levels and suggests opportunity to promote plant robustness and survivability in rising CO2 environmental conditions through application of bioprotective epichloid strains.