SEED-TRANSMITTED FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES PROTECT ITS HOST AGAINST A STERILITY-CAUSING PATHOGENIC FUNGI

IANNONE, L. J; VIGNALE, M.V; PINGET, A.D; MC CARGO, P.D; RE, A.; DE BATTISTA, J.P; NOVAS, M.V

Buenos Aires

Simposio; 32nd New Phytologist Symposium. Plant interactions with other organisms: molecules, ecology and evolution; 2013

Some grasses are co-infected by Epichloë endophytes and smut fungi. Asexual Epichloë species are fungal symbionts transmitted via seeds of its host grass; the smuts, as Ustilago bullata, produce sterility of the host plants by replacing the ovary with spores. Thus, the ovary becomes a resource for which both fungi should compete. We evaluate the role of Epichloë tembladerae, an endophyte of Bromus auleticus, on U. bullata in-vitro inhibition and host field protection. In-vitro studies indicated that E. tembladerae inhibits the germination of the spores of U. bullata. Studies performed in pots and at the field showed that smut disease incidence was dramatically diminished in endophyte-infected plants. Thus defensive-mutualism against fungal pathogens seems to be an important driving force in the evolution of the mutualistic symbiosis between E. tembladerae and B. auleticus in which both the plant and the endophyte are benefitted.