Genetic variation for fitness-relevant traits may be maintained in natural populations by fitness differences that depend on environmental conditions. For herbivores, plant quality and variation in chemical plant defences can maintain genetic variation in performance. Apart from plant secondary compounds, symbiosis between plants and endosymbiotic fungi (endophytes) can produce herbivore-toxic ...

J. Econ. Entomol. 89(3): 76C-770 (1996) ABSTRACT Experiments were conducted to compare the expression of Russian wheat aphid, Diurnphis noxia (Mordvilko), resistance in 2 genotypes of tall fescue grass, Festucn arun&nacea Schreb., harboring different isolates of the endophytic fungus Acremonium coenophialum Morgan-Jones & cams. Aphids did not select endophyte-free over endophyte-infected tiller...

To measure the impact of biological control of Argentine stem weevil, Listronotus bonariensis (ASW) by Microctonus hyperodae in dairy pasture, a research site was established in the autumn of 1997 on a dairy farm near Lincoln, where the parasitoid had been present since 1994. Existing pasture was killed with glyphosate and four ryegrass cultivar treatments consisting of three perennial (Nui, Em...

An aquatic hyphomycete, Dwayaangam sp., was isolated from superficially sterilized black spruce (Picea mariana) needles submerged in aerated water in a small glass chamber (microcosm). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence of this fungus and of a commonly encountered foliar endophyte isolated from P. mariana showed a high degree of similarity. When sporulation was induced in the microc...

Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) often forms a symbiotic relationship with fungal endophytes (Epichloë coenophiala), which provides increased plant performance and greater tolerance to environmental stress compared endophyte-free tall fescue. Whether this enhanced of exclusively results from the grass–fungus symbiosis, or symbiosis additionally in recruitment soil mic...

13-17 ABSTRACT Infection with endophytic fungi (Acremonium spp.) was detected in seeds of wild populations of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) collected in France by private breeding companies and INRA. In total, 262 populations were examined and 70% contained Acremonium. It is worth noticing that most populations are endophyte infected but generally endophyte infection rates per population ...

Intensive agriculture, which depends on unsustainable levels of agrochemical inputs, is environmentally harmful, and the expansion of these practices to meet future needs is not economically feasible. Other options should be considered to meet the global food security challenge. The plant microbiome has been linked to improved plant productivity and, in this microreview, we consider the endosph...

Bacterial and yeast endophytes isolated from the Salicaceae family have been shown to promote growth and alleviate stress in plants from different taxa. To determine the physiological pathways through which endophytes affect plant water relations, we investigated leaf water potential, whole-plant water use, and stomatal responses of rice plants to Salicaceae endophyte inoculation under CO2 enri...

Ranunculus roots were sampled across a latitudinal transect encompassing 52 oN and 82 oN, for years spanning 1963-2007. Samples from 2004 and later were preserved in formalin; earlier samples were taken from herbarium accessions. Roots were examined for colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizae, fine endophyte, and septate endophyte fungi using lactofuchsin-stained material imaged with epifluoresc...

Fescue toxicosis in livestock is due to ingestion of endophyte (Acremonium coenophialum) -infected tall fescue. Understanding mechanisms responsible for decreased calving and growth rates, delayed onset of puberty, and impaired function of corpora lutea in heifers at puberty consuming endophyte-infected fescue is an emerging field in reproductive toxicology. The condition decreases overall prod...