Neotyphodium interactions with a native grass are driven by endophyte haplotype

Grass-herbivore interactions altered by strains of a native endophyte.

Many plants support symbiotic microbes, such as endophytic fungi, that can alter interactions with herbivores. Most endophyte research has focused on agronomically important species, with less known about the ecological roles of native endophytes in native plants. In particular, whether genetic variation among endophyte symbionts affects herbivores of plant hosts remains unresolved for most nat...

Grass-endophyte interactions: a note on the role of monosaccharide transport in the Neotyphodium lolii-Lolium perenne symbiosis.

Symbiotic mutualistic associations of plants with ectoand endomycorrhizal and endophytic fungi are very common in natural and agricultural ecosystems; these fungi improve nutrient acquisition and ⁄ or tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses of their hosts (Smith & Gianinazzi-Pearson, 1988; Nehls et al., 2007; Schardl et al., 2007). A major feature of associations between the heterotrophic fung...

Neotyphodium endophyte infection frequency in annual grass populations: relative importance of mutualism and transmission efficiency.

Persistence and ubiquity of vertically transmitted Neotyphodium endophytes in grass populations is puzzling because infected plants do not consistently exhibit increased fitness. Using an annual grass population model, we show that the problems for matching endophyte infection and mutualism are likely to arise from difficulties in detecting small mutualistic effects, variability in endophyte tr...

Loline Alkaloid Gene Clusters of the Fungal Endophyte Neotyphodium Uncinatum

Herbivory mediates grass-endophyte relationships.

Endophytic fungi are plant symbionts living asymptomatically within plant tissues. Neotyphodium spp., which are asexual vertically transmitted systemic fungal endophytes of cool-season grasses, are predicted to be plant mutualists. These endophytes increase host plant resistance to environmental stresses and/or increase the production of alkaloid-based herbivore deterrents. The ubiquity of this...