Heritable symbioses can have important ecological effects and have triggered important evolutionary innovations. Current predictions for long-term symbiont prevalence are based on their fitness benefits and vertical transmission rates but ignore nonlinear competitive feedbacks among symbiotic and symbiont-free hosts. We hypothesized that such feedbacks function as stabilizing mechanisms, promot...

Higher plants are ubiquitously colonized with fungal endophytes that often lack readily detectable structures. This study examines the diverse endophyte population within a single line of micropropagated Bouteloua eriopoda (Torr.) Torr., using microscopy and comparison of internal spacer (ITS) gene sequences obtained from both plant and isolated fungal tissues. Microscopy revealed fungal hyphae...

Fungal endophytes colonize living internal plant tissues without causing any visible symptoms of disease. Endophytic fungi associated with healthy leaves may play an important role in the protection of hosts against herbivores and pathogens. In this study, the diversity of foliar endophytic fungi (FEF) of the southern temperate tree Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae), as well as their role in pl...

Fungal endophytes represent one of the most ubiquitous plant symbionts on Earth and are phylogenetically diverse. The structure and diversity of endophyte communities have been shown to depend on host taxa and climate, but there have been relatively few studies exploring endophyte communities throughout host maturity. We compared foliar fungal endophyte communities between seedlings and adult t...

We discuss studies of foliar endophytic fungi (FEF) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associated with Theobroma cacao in Panama. Direct, experimentally controlled comparisons of endophyte free (E-) and endophyte containing (E+) plant tissues in T. cacao show that foliar endophytes (FEF) that commonly occur in healthy host leaves enhance host defenses against foliar damage due to the pathog...

We have isolated five endophytic fungi from the roots of Capsicum annuum, Cucumis sativus and Glycine max. The culture filtrates (CF) of these endophytes were screened on dwarf mutant rice (Waito-C) and normal rice (Dongjin-byeo). Endophyte CAC-1A significantly inhibited the growth of Waito-C and Dongjin-byeo. Endophyte CAC-1A was identified as Paraconiothyrium sp. by sequencing the ITS rDNA re...

Tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh; Schedonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub] is the primary cool season perennial grass in the eastern U.S. Most tall fescue contains an endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum), which produces ergot alkaloids that cause vasoconstriction and could restrict blood flow to the fetus in pregnant animals. The objective of this study was to examine fetal growth ...

The Oregon State University Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agricultural Sciences instituted the Endophyte Service Laboratory to aid in diagnosing toxicity problems associated with cool-season grasses in livestock. The endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophalum) present in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) produces ergopeptine alkaloids, of which ergovaline is the molecule used to determine exposu...

Overgrazing of China's grasslands is increasingly causing biodiversity to decline. In degenerated grasslands of northwest China endophyte (Epichloё gansuensis) infected Achnatherum inebrians (drunken horse grass) is becoming widely distributed because of its toxicity to livestock. In this study, we investigated the ecological consequences of endophyte toxicity in this native grass, at three sit...

Our study examines how the mutualism between Atta colombica leaf-cutting ants and their cultivated fungus is influenced by the presence of diverse foliar endophytic fungi (endophytes) at high densities in tropical leaf tissues. We conducted laboratory choice trials in which ant colonies chose between Cordia alliodora seedlings with high (E(high)) or low (E(low)) densities of endophytes. The E(h...