An Endophytic Trichoderma Strain Promotes Growth of Its Hosts and Defends Against Pathogen Attack.

Yu-Heng Tseng,Karin Groten,Karaba N Nataraja,Ramanan Uma Shaanker,Ian T Baldwin,Pijakala Rajani,Michael Reichelt,Alexandra C U Furch,Hamid Rouina,Ralf Oelmüller

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.573670

Abstract

Plants host numerous endophytic microbes which promote plant performance, in particular under stress. A new endophytic fungus was isolated from the leaves of a deciduous wood tree Leucas aspera. Morphological inspection and multilocus phylogeny identified the fungus as a new Trichoderma strain. If applied to Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana attenuata, it mainly colonizes their roots and strongly promotes initial growth of the plants on soil. The fungus grows on high NaCl or mannitol concentrations, and shows predatory capability on the pathogenic fungus Alternaria brassicicola. Colonized Arabidopsis plants tolerate higher salt stress and show lower A. brassicicola spread in roots and shoots, while arbuscular mycorrhiza formation in N. attenuata is not affected by the Trichoderma strain. These beneficial features of the novel Trichoderma strain are important prerequisites for agricultural applications.

Highlights

Trichoderma species are versatile filamentous ascomycetes which are found in most environments
The Trichoderma strain was isolated from leaves of Leucas aspera (Wild.) Link
The amounts of 11carboxyblumenol, a marker for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) root colonization (Wang et al, 2018a), did not differ between Trichoderma-inoculated and non-inoculated samples (Figure 8C). 11-Carboxyblumenol levels were similar when plants were pre-inoculated with AMF and after 6 weeks co-cultured with Trichoderma. These results suggest that AMF colonization is not affected by the new Trichoderma strain in N. attenuata

Summary

Introduction

Trichoderma species are versatile filamentous ascomycetes which are found in most environments. Various Trichoderma species were shown to protect plants against pathogenic fungi, such as Rhizoctonia solani (Grosch et al, 2007; Zhang and Zhuang, 2020). Trichoderma Plant Beneficial Interaction and nutrient uptake under nutrient deficient conditions (Li et al, 2015), often in combination with better stress tolerance of crop plants (Studholme et al, 2013). Other species, such as T. pleuroti (CBS124387) and T. pleuroticola (CBS124383) cause green mold disease in oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) farms (Park et al, 2006)

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