Molina-Montenegro Marco A, Oses Rómulo, Torres-Díaz Cristian, Atala Cristian, Zurita-Silva Andrés, Ruiz-Lara Simón
Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Avenida Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile
Núcleo Milenio "Centro en Ecología Molecular y Aplicaciones Evolutivas en Agroecosistemas (CEM)", Avda. Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile.
AoB Plants. 2016 Oct 27;8. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plw062. Print 2016.
Throughout many regions of the world, climate change has limited the availability of water for irrigating crops. Indeed, current models of climate change predict that arid and semi-arid zones will be places where precipitation will drastically decrease. In this context, plant root-associated fungi appear as a new strategy to improve ecophysiological performance and yield of crops under abiotic stress. Thus, use of fungal endophytes from ecosystems currently subjected to severe drought conditions could improve the ecophysiological performance and quantum yield of crops exposed to drought. In this study, we evaluated how the inoculation of fungal endophytes isolated from Antarctic plants can improve the net photosynthesis, water use efficiency and production of fresh biomass in a lettuce cultivar, grown under different water availability regimes. In addition, we assessed if the presence of biochemical mechanisms and gene expression related with environmental tolerance are improved in presence of fungal endophytes. Overall, those individuals with presence of endophytes showed higher net photosynthesis and maintained higher water use efficiency in drought conditions, which was correlated with greater fresh and dry biomass production as well as greater root system development. In addition, presence of fungal endophytes was correlated with a higher proline concentration, lower peroxidation of lipids and up-/down-regulation of ion homeostasis. Our results suggest that presence of fungal endophytes could minimize the negative effect of drought by improving drought tolerance through biochemical mechanisms and improving nutritional status. Thus, root-endophytes might be a successful biotechnological tool to maintain high levels of ecophysiological performance and productivity in zones under drought.
在世界许多地区，气候变化限制了用于灌溉作物的水资源供应。事实上，当前的气候变化模型预测，干旱和半干旱地区的降水量将大幅减少。在这种背景下，植物根系相关真菌成为提高非生物胁迫下作物生态生理性能和产量的一种新策略。因此，利用目前遭受严重干旱条件的生态系统中的真菌内生菌，可以提高遭受干旱的作物的生态生理性能和量子产量。在本研究中，我们评估了接种从南极植物中分离出的真菌内生菌，如何提高在不同水分供应条件下生长的生菜品种的净光合作用、水分利用效率和新鲜生物量产量。此外，我们评估了在真菌内生菌存在的情况下，与环境耐受性相关的生化机制和基因表达是否得到改善。总体而言，那些有内生菌的个体在干旱条件下表现出更高的净光合作用，并保持更高的水分利用效率，这与更高的新鲜和干生物量产量以及更大的根系发育相关。此外，真菌内生菌的存在与较高的脯氨酸浓度、较低的脂质过氧化以及离子稳态的上调/下调相关。我们的结果表明，真菌内生菌的存在可以通过生化机制提高耐旱性并改善营养状况，从而将干旱的负面影响降至最低。因此，根系内生菌可能是一种成功的生物技术工具，可在干旱地区维持高水平的生态生理性能和生产力。
