Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Integrative Fungal Research Cluster (IPF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2018 Feb 1;94(2). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fix162.
Plant symbioses with fungal root endophytes span a continuum from mutualistic to parasitic outcomes, and are highly variable depending on the genotype of each symbiont. The abiotic context in which interactions occur also seems to influence the outcome of plant-endophyte symbioses, but we lack understanding of its relative importance. We aimed to assess if changes in abiotic variables determine the effects of fungal root endophytes on plant growth. We used in vitro co-cultivation assays to test the impact of a selection of endophytic strains from diverse lineages on the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana, Microthlaspi erraticum and Hordeum vulgare along gradients of nutrient availability, light intensity or substrate pH. Most fungi showed a negative but weak effect on plant growth, whereas only a few had persistent detrimental effects across plants and conditions. Changes in abiotic factors affected plant growth but had little influence on their response to fungal inoculation. Of the factors tested, variation in nutrient availability resulted in the most variable plant-endophyte interactions, although changes were feeble and strain-specific. Our findings suggest that the effects of root endophytes on plant growth are robust to changes in the abiotic environment when these encompass the tolerance range of either symbiont.
植物与真菌根内共生体的共生关系从互惠共生到寄生关系存在连续谱,并且高度依赖于每个共生体的基因型。相互作用发生的非生物环境似乎也会影响植物-内共生体共生关系的结果,但我们缺乏对其相对重要性的理解。我们旨在评估非生物变量的变化是否决定了真菌根内共生体对植物生长的影响。我们使用体外共培养试验来测试来自不同谱系的一系列内生菌株对拟南芥、微梗薊和大麦生长的影响,这些菌株沿着养分供应、光照强度或基质 pH 的梯度变化。大多数真菌对植物生长表现出负但微弱的影响,而只有少数几种在植物和条件之间具有持续的有害影响。非生物因素的变化影响了植物的生长,但对其对真菌接种的反应影响很小。在所测试的因素中,养分供应的变化导致了植物-内生菌相互作用最具可变性,尽管变化微弱且菌株特异性。我们的研究结果表明,当根内共生体的耐受范围涵盖非生物环境的变化时,根内共生体对植物生长的影响是稳健的。