An extraordinary level of length heterogeneity was found in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of an asexual hybrid Neotyphodium grass endophyte, isolate Lp1. This hybrid Neotyphodium endophyte is an interspecific hybrid between two grass endophytes, Neotyphodium lolii, and a sexual form, Epichlöe typhina, and the length heterogeneity was not found in either of these progenitor species. The length hetero...

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...

The incidence of clavicipitaceous anamorphic endophytes, non-choke inducing endosymbiotic fungi of the genus Neotyphodium that systemically infect grasses, in eighteen Hordeum species from the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System was examined using light and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Seventeen plant inventory accessions from only three Hordeum species, including H. bogdanii, H. brevis...

The objectives were to determine the effects of short-term feeding of a toxic endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum)-infected tall fescue seed (Festuca arundinacea, cultivar 'Kentucky 31') on fecal shedding and intestinal concentrations of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the concentrations of prolactin, cortisol, and NEFA in experimentally inoculated ewes. Twelve ewes (mean BW = 46 +/- 2 kg) were f...

Fungal species of the Neotyphodium and Epichloë genera are endophytes of pasture grasses showing complex differences of life-cycle and genetic architecture. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers have been developed from endophyte-derived expressed sequence tag (EST) collections. Although SSR array size polymorphisms are appropriate for phenetic analysis to distinguish between taxa, the capacity ...

Fungal endophytes and their grass hosts have attracted growing research interest as systems in which to examine the ecological and evolutionary consequences of maternally inherited symbioses. The lion’s share of research for these endophytic symbioses has been focused on Neotyphodium endophytes in three introduced agronomic grasses (but especially one, tall fescue; see Faeth and Saikkonen 2007;...

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...

Epichloë species and their anamorphic relatives in genus Neotyphodium are fungal symbionts of grasses ubiquitously existing in temperate regions all over the world. To date, 13 Epichloë species and 22 Neotyphodium species have been formally described, based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses. Leymus chinensis (Poaceae) is a dominant grass native to the Inner Mongolia steppe o...