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Fungal endophytes in herbaceous plants: mutualists or antagonists?

草本植物内生真菌：互利共生还是拮抗？

基本信息

批准号：
NE/D002605/1
负责人：
Alan Gange
金额：
$ 33.69万
依托单位：
Royal Holloway University of London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2006
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2006 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FD002605%2F1
关键词：
Fungal endophytes herbaceous plants mutualists

项目摘要

'Endophyte' is the term used to describe a fungus that lives inside the living tissues of a plant, while causing no visible signs of infection. In grasses and trees, endophytes can protect the host plant against vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores and pathogenic fungi, by the production of chemicals, active against the attacker. However, in herbaceous plants, the number of endophyte fungi may be ten times that found in a grass or a tree. Furthermore, herbaceous endophytes are known to produce a wide variety of toxic chemicals when grown on agar in the laboratory. Remarkably, these fungi have escaped attention by ecologists. Do they exist in a mutualistic relationship with their hosts, protecting plants against attack through their chemical production? Alternatively, if they cause no symptoms of infection, does this mean they suppress the plant's defence system, rendering it more susceptible to herbivore attack? It is the aim of this research to answer these questions, using a model system of creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense), and its associated endophytes and insects. In this project, we will examine whether insect herbivores can transmit these fungi from plant to plant, either directly on their bodies, or by allowing fungal entry to tissues, through wounds in the plant created by their feeding. We will see if biotic and abiotic factors in the soil that are known to increase plant size (symbiotic fungi and nutrients) can affect the numbers of endophytes that infect a plant. We will also examine the reverse interaction: if endophytes consume plant resources then they might compete for carbon in the plant, thereby reducing the growth of the symbiotic fungi. Finally, when we have discovered the factors that affect endophyte occurrence, we will grow plants that are endophyte-free or infected to see what effects fungal infection has on the growth and survival of a sucking, chewing and a galling insect. We will also use the most modern techniques of chemical analysis to detect and identify the toxic chemicals produced in infected plants and compare them to those in uninfected plants and the fungi themselves. Why is this work important? Because it has the potential to change the way in which we think about plant-insect interactions and could lead to many novel forms of pest or weed control. If at least some of the chemicals in plants are produced by these fungi, rather than the plants themselves, this could have profound implications for the use of endophytes as insect biological control agents. We could inoculate the fungi into crop plants and so protect the plant from the inside out. Also, C. arvense is one of the world's worst weeds and all attempts to use insects or pathogenic fungi as biological control agents of it have failed. We think that the presence of invisible, and hitherto unconsidered, endophytes may be the reason. If we show that they protect the plant against insects, then in weeds, we can start to manipulate fungal occurrence, so that biological control agents stand a better chance of success.

“内生菌”是一个术语，用来描述一种真菌，生活在植物的活组织内，而不会引起明显的感染迹象。在草和树中，内生菌可以保护宿主植物免受脊椎动物和无脊椎动物食草动物和病原真菌的侵害，通过产生化学物质，积极对抗攻击者。然而，在草本植物中，内生真菌的数量可能是在草或树中发现的十倍。此外，已知草本植物内生菌在实验室中在琼脂上生长时会产生多种有毒化学物质。值得注意的是，这些真菌没有引起生态学家的注意。它们是否与宿主存在互惠关系，通过化学物质保护植物免受攻击？或者，如果它们没有引起感染症状，这是否意味着它们抑制了植物的防御系统，使其更容易受到食草动物的攻击？这是本研究的目的，回答这些问题，使用模型系统的匍匐蓟（蓟），其相关的内生菌和昆虫。在这个项目中，我们将研究昆虫食草动物是否可以将这些真菌从植物传播到植物，无论是直接在他们的身体上，还是通过让真菌进入组织，通过他们的喂养在植物中创建的伤口。我们将看到土壤中已知的增加植物大小的生物和非生物因素（共生真菌和营养物质）是否会影响感染植物的内生菌的数量。我们还将研究反向相互作用：如果内生菌消耗植物资源，那么它们可能会竞争植物中的碳，从而减少共生真菌的生长。最后，当我们发现影响内生菌发生的因素时，我们将种植无内生菌或受感染的植物，以了解真菌感染对吸吮，咀嚼和擦伤昆虫的生长和生存有什么影响。我们还将使用最现代的化学分析技术来检测和识别受感染植物中产生的有毒化学物质，并将其与未受感染植物和真菌本身的有毒化学物质进行比较。为什么这项工作很重要？因为它有可能改变我们对植物-昆虫相互作用的看法，并可能导致许多新形式的害虫或杂草控制。如果植物中至少有一些化学物质是由这些真菌产生的，而不是植物本身，这可能对使用内生菌作为昆虫生物控制剂产生深远的影响。我们可以将真菌植入作物中，从内到外保护植物。此外，C.野燕麦是世界上最严重的杂草之一，所有使用昆虫或病原真菌作为其生物防治剂的尝试都失败了。我们认为，不可见的，迄今未被考虑的内生菌的存在可能是原因。如果我们证明它们能保护植物免受昆虫的侵害，那么在杂草中，我们就可以开始操纵真菌的发生，这样生物控制剂就有更好的成功机会。