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Does Epichloë Endophyte Enhance Host Tolerance to Root Hemiparasite?

  • Plant Microbe Interactions
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Abstract

Epichloë endophytes have been shown to be mutualistic symbionts of cool-season grasses under most environmental conditions. Although pairwise interactions between hemiparasites and their hosts are heavily affected by host-associated symbiotic microorganisms, little attention has been paid to the effects of microbe–plant interactions, particularly endophytic symbiosis, in studies examining the effects of parasitic plants on host performance. In this study, we performed a greenhouse experiment to examine the effects of hereditary Epichloë endophyte symbiosis on the growth of two host grasses (Stipa purpurea and Elymus tangutorum) in the presence or absence of a facultative root hemiparasite (Pedicularis kansuensis Maxim). We observed parasitism of both hosts by P. kansuensis: when grown with a host plant, the hemiparasite decreased the performance of the host while improving its own biomass and survival rate of the hemiparasite. Parasitized endophyte-infected S. purpurea plants had higher biomass, tillers, root:shoot ratio, and photosynthetic parameters and a lower number of functional haustoria than the endophyte-free S. purpurea conspecifics. By contrast, parasitized endophyte-infected E. tangutorum had a lower biomass, root:shoot ratio, and photosynthetic parameters and a higher number of haustoria and functional haustoria than their endophyte-free counterparts. Our results reveal that the interactions between the endophytes and the host grasses are context dependent and that plant–plant interactions can strongly affect their mutualistic interactions. Endophytes originating from S. purpurea alleviate the host biomass reduction by P. kansuensis and growth depression in the hemiparasite. These findings shed new light on using grass–endophyte symbionts as biocontrol methods for the effective and sustainable management of this weedy hemiparasite.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Hongsheng Wang and Associate Professor Yali Yin for their constructive comments on the manuscript and Ph.D. students Xiang Yao and Shuihong Chen for providing some technical support.

Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB138702), the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 31660690 and 31700098), the Program for Qinghai Province Thousand Talent Innovative Plan, the Key Laboratory ofSuperior Forage Germplasm in the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (2017-ZJY12) and Academy of Finland (Grants 295976 and 326226).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy of Animal and Veterinary Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, China

    Gensheng Bao, Meiling Song & Yuqin Wang

  2. College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, 730020, Lanzhou, China

    Gensheng Bao

  3. Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Kari Saikkonen

  4. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Chunjie Li

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Bao, G., Song, M., Wang, Y. et al. Does Epichloë Endophyte Enhance Host Tolerance to Root Hemiparasite?. Microb Ecol 82, 35–48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01496-8

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