Plant population and genotype effects override the effects of Epichloë endophyte species on growth and drought stress response of Achnatherum robustum plants in two natural grass populations  

作　　者：Tong Jia Tatsiana Shymanovich Yu-Bao Gao Stanley H.Faeth 

机构地区：[1]Department of Plant Biology and Ecology,College of Life Sciences,Nankai University,94 Weijin Road,Tianjin 300071,China [2]Department of Biology,University of North Carolina Greensboro,312 Eberhart Bldg.,Greensboro,NC 27412,USA

出　　处：《Journal of Plant Ecology》2015年第6期633-641,共9页植物生态学报（英文版）

基　　金：National Science Foundation(DEB 0917741 to S.H.F.).

摘　　要：Aims In cool-season grasses,systemic and vertically transmitted Epichloëinfections often provide a suite of benefits including increased growth,reproduction and competitive abilities.However,these effects of Epichloëendophytes on their hosts often depend upon host and endophyte genotype and environmental factors.Methods Achnatherum robustum(sleepygrass)harbors at least two Epichloëspecies within natural populations in the southwest USA.We tested the effects of endophyte infection and species,host population and plant genotype(by experimentally removing the endophyte),and soil moisture(a key limiting factor)on growth and drought stress response of infected A.robustum plants from two populations(Weed and Cloudcroft)in the sacremento mountains of New mexico,USA).Important Findingsalthough the two populations harbor distinct Epichloëspecies each with very different chemoprofiles,neither endophyte status(infected vs.uninfected)nor endophyte species affected most growth param-eters at 8 or 25 weeks of the experiment,except for leaf length.In high water treatment,infected plants from the Weed population had longer leaf length compared with uninfected plants.In contrast,the population of origin affected all growth parameters,including plant height,leaf number,length and width,tiller number and shoot and root biomass,as well as wilting time.grasses from the Cloudcroft population generally showed greater growth than grasses from the Weed population.Endophyte infection did affect wilting time,with infection in the Weed population generally reducing time to wilting under low and high water,whereas infection in the Cloudcroft population reduced time to wilting only under high water conditions.our results suggest that plant population and their associated plant genotypes may play a much larger role in endophyte-host grass interactions in varying environments than previously thought.asexual Epichloëspecies may be compatible with only specific host genotypes within populations such that the phenotypic effects due to populat

关 键 词：endophyte genotype Epichloe infection growth parameters sleepygrass wilting time 

分 类 号：S54[农业科学—作物学]