Plant influences on endophyte expression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.13.2006.3102Abstract
Neotyphodium endophytes in the pooid grasses perennial ryegrass and tall fescue (Lolium spp.) are important ecologically and agriculturally by virtue of their ability to produce several alkaloids and their effects on host growth and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Such responses can be positive, neutral, or negative, and depend on the interaction of host genetics x endophyte genetics x environment (and management), which is complex and difficult to predict. Understanding the interactions is key to elucidating the ecological role of endophytes in natural and impacted ecosystems and to optimally select plant and endophyte combinations that support profitable livestock production with stable plant populations. High phenotypic variability among individual plants in an endophyte-infected population can promote population fitness across a wide range of stressful environments. Strong interactions between environmental conditions and host-endophyte combination reveal the importance of testing new grass-endophyte associations in the range of environments targeted for eventual use to determine stability of the desired traits. Care must also be taken when creating new symbiota that an important fitness trait is not lost by selecting endophytes that lack a particular alkaloid. Genetic variations within perennial ryegrass and tall fescue provide opportunities for plant breeders to perform further selections with novel symbiota to exploit host control over growth and physiology and thus overcome some of performance loss. This paper reviews the challenges of understanding grass-endophyte interactions, with particular attention to strategies of improving the performance of novel symbiota for agricultural purposes. Keywords: Lolium, Festuca, Neotyphodium, plant-endophyte interactions, symbiosis
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