Journal
FUNGAL ECOLOGY
Volume 5, Issue 3, Pages 289-297Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2010.12.001
Keywords
Biodiversity; Endophytic; Fungus-plant interactions; Grasses; Latent pathogens; Latent saprotrophs; Mycovirus; Poaceae; Symbiosis
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Many fungi behave as endophytes in grasses. Unlike the well known Epichloe/Neotyphodium species, most other endophytes are not capable of systemic colonization of plant organs, or seed transmission. The species diversity of the non-systemic endophytic mycobiota of grasses is large, dominated by ascomycetes. The relative abundance of species is very unequal, a few dominant taxa like Acremonium, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Epicoccum and Penicillium spp., occur in many grasses and locations. In contrast, many rare species are isolated only once in endophyte surveys. The possible ecological functions of endophytes are diverse, and often unknown. Latent pathogens represent a small fraction of endophytic mycobiotas, indicating that many non-pathogenic fungal taxa are able to enter plants overriding defence reactions. Some dominant species behave as latent saprotrophs, sporulating when the host tissue dies. Endofungal viruses and bacteria occur among endophytic species, but their effect in their hosts is largely unknown. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The British Mycological Society. All rights reserved.
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