Journal
FUNGAL ECOLOGY
Volume 52, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2021.101070
Keywords
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Foliar fungi; Moesziomyces; Neoerysiphe; Endangered species; Plant conservation
Funding
- Army Natural Resources Program on Oahu
- National Science Foundation [1556856]
- W.M. Keck Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1556856] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The study tested the efficacy of using potentially beneficial fungi to control disease resistance in endangered Hawaiian plant species. Results showed that foliar yeast Moesziomyces aphidis significantly reduced disease incidence, offering a new strategy for plant conservation practices.
Beneficial microbes such as plant mutualistic fungi, hold the promise of ameliorating challenges faced in native plant conservation such as disease management. As an alternative to costly chemical pest control, conservation efforts could potentially harness the benefits of plant mutualistic fungi to aid in defense and disease resistance, but there are few tests of this notion. We set out to test the efficacy of controlling a common foliar pathogen, the powdery mildew Neoerysiphe galeopsidis, by inoculating the endangered Hawaiian plant species Phyllostegia kaalaensis with potentially beneficial members of its wild-type mycobiome. We tested whether inoculating plants with above or belowground fungal mutualists, or both, led to increased disease resistance in the host. We found that while all treatments reduced average disease incidence, colonization by the foliar yeast Moesziomyces aphidis was the only treatment to do so significantly. These results provide an exciting new strategy for plant conservation practices. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd and British Mycological Society. All rights reserved.
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