Shifting Costs and Benefits of Systemic Endophyte Interactions With Native Grass Hosts

项目概述内生真菌是生活在植物内部但不会引起疾病的真菌。相反，内生菌被认为是通过提高对干旱、草食动物、种子捕食者、病原体和根部摄食者的抗性，以及提高发芽率、养分吸收和竞争能力而对植物有利的。内生菌存在于所有植物中，包括农艺作物和草坪草。它们被用在草坪草中，以提高草坪草的性能，但由于它们的毒性作用，也可能对牲畜造成伤害。然而，关于内生菌在本地牧草中的作用，人们知之甚少。内生菌的益处往往不同于农艺牧草。我们的研究试图确定在亚利桑那州羊茅和睡草这两种广为传播的西南本地牧草上使用无性、种子携带的内生菌的成本和收益。我们的目标是通过实验测试新伤寒杆菌感染的成本和收益，这取决于植物和内生真菌的基因和环境。我们将实施两个主要的田间试验，以控制植物基因型和内生真菌感染、土壤水分水平和无脊椎动物和脊椎动物的草食。我们的结果将为深入了解内生菌与其寄主牧草之间的基本相互作用提供深入的见解，并可能在牧草相关的重要应用方面提供参考。

Project SummaryEndophytes are fungi that live internally in plants but do not cause disease. Instead, endophytes are thought to benefit the plant by increasing resistance to drought, herbivores, and seed predators, pathogens and root feeders and increasing germination rates, nutrient uptake, and competitive abilities. Endophytes are found in all plants, including agronomic crops and turf grasses. They are used in turf grasses to increase performance of grasses, but may also cause harm livestock because of their toxic effects. However, little is known about the role of endophytes in native grasses. The benefits of endophytes are often not the same as in agronomic grasses. Our research seeks to determine the costs and benefits of asexual, seed borne endophytes in the genus Neotyphodium in two widespread SW native grasses, Arizona fescue and sleepy grass. Our goals are to experimentally test the cost and benefits of Neotyphodium infection depending on plant and endophyte genotype and environment. We will implement two major field experiments that control plant genotype and endophyte infection, soil moisture levels and herbivory by invertebrates and vertebrates. Our results will provide insights into basic interactions between endophytes and their host grasses, and may have important applied aspects related to forage grasses.