IFEVA   02662
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FISIOLOGICAS Y ECOLOGICAS VINCULADAS A LA AGRICULTURA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Microbial community responses to the fungal endophyte Neotyphodium in Italian ryegrass
Autor/es:
CASAS, C; OMACINI M; MONTECCHIA, MS; CORREA, O
Revista:
PLANT AND SOIL
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Año: 2011 vol. 340 p. 347 - 355
ISSN:
0032-079X
Resumen:
Cool-season grasses commonly harbor fungal endophytes in their aerial tissues, however the effects of these symbionts on soil communities have rarely been investigated. Our objective was to explore soil community responses in soils conditioned by plants of the annual grass Lolium multiflorum with contrasting levels of infection with the endophyte Neotyphodium occultans. At the end of the host growing season, we estimated the functional capacity of soil microbial communities (as indexed by catabolic response profiles), the contribution of fungi and bacteria to soil activity (as indexed selective inhibition with antibiotics) and the genetic structure of both microbial communities (as indexed by molecular analyses). Soil conditioning by highly infected plants affected soil catabolic profiles as well as tended to increase soil fungal activity. We detected a shift in bacterial communities structure while no changes in the one of fungi. Soil responses became evident even without changes in host plant biomass, soil organic carbon or total nitrogen content in soil, suggesting that the endophyte modified host rhizodepositions during the conditioning phase. Our results have implications for the understanding of the reciprocal interactions between above- and belowground community subsystems, suggesting that soil community feedback can be mediated by this symbiosis.