1. The growth promotion in endophyte symbiotic plants does not penalise the resistance to herbivores and bacterial microbiota.
- Author
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Zhang, Wei, Gundel, Pedro E., Jáuregui, Ruy, Card, Stuart D., Mace, Wade J., Johnson, Richard D., and Bastías, Daniel A.
- Abstract
A trade‐off between growth and defence against biotic stresses is common in plants. Fungal endophytes of the genus
Epichloë may relieve this trade‐off in their host grasses since they can simultaneously induce plant growth and produce antiherbivore alkaloids that circumvent the need for host defence. TheEpichloë ability to decouple the growth‐defence trade‐off was evaluated by subjecting ryegrass with and withoutEpichloë endophytes to an exogenous treatment with gibberellin (GA) followed by a challenge withRhopalosiphum padi aphids. In agreement with the endophyte‐mediated trade‐off decoupling hypothesis, the GA‐derived promotion of plant growth increased the susceptibility to aphids in endophyte‐free plants but did not affect the insect resistance in endophyte‐symbiotic plants. In line with the unaltered insect resistance, the GA treatment did not reduce the concentration ofEpichloë ‐derived alkaloids. TheEpichloë mycelial biomass was transiently increased by the GA treatment but at the expense of hyphal integrity. The response of the phyllosphere bacterial microbiota to both GA treatment andEpichloë was also evaluated. OnlyEpichloë , and not the GA treatment, altered the composition of the phyllosphere microbiota and the abundance of certain bacterial taxa. Our findings clearly demonstrate thatEpichloë does indeed relieve the plant growth‐defence trade‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
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