Abstract
Endophytes are non-disease causing microbes (bacteria and fungi) surviving in living tissues of plants. Their intimate association and possible coevolution with their plant partners have resulted in them contributing to an array of plant growth benefits ranging from enhanced growth and biomass accumulation, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses and in nutrient acquisition. The last couple of decades have witnessed a burgeoning literature on the role of endophytes (Class 3 type) in regulating plant growth and development and their adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses. Though the underlying mechanisms of plant-endophyte interactions are far from clear, several studies have raised the hope of their potential application in agriculture, especially in mitigating abiotic and biotic stresses. The use of endophytes is envisaged as a route to reduce the production cost and burden on the environment by lessening the dependence on breeding for crop improvement and agrochemicals. Unfortunately, save a few well documented examples of their use, a little of these insights has been translated into actual agricultural applications. Here, we reflect on this paucity and elaborate on some of the important bottlenecks that might stand in way of fully realizing the potential that endophytes hold for crop improvement. We stress the need to study various facets of the endophyte-plant association for their gainful application in agriculture.
Highlights
Endophytes are microbes residing within plants without causing any harm to their growth and development
Fungal Endophyte-Mediated Crop Improvement here, are effective in combating several abiotic stresses faced by their host plants, such as drought, salinity, nutrient deficiency, and metal toxicity, etc., and biotic stresses caused by pathogens and insect pests (Waller et al, 2005; Hardoim et al, 2008; Rho et al, 2018a; Manasa et al, 2020; Sampangi-Ramaiah et al, 2020)
In the past few decades, it became obvious that endophytes could be isolated from every plant studied (Strobel and Daisy, 2003; Hardoim et al, 2015; Suryanarayanan et al, 2018a; Giauque et al, 2019). These analyses showed that many attributes of endophytes, in particular their universal occurrence, sustained presence in plants, non-pathogenic nature, ability to enhance the biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of their plant hosts (Rodriguez et al, 2009), increase access to soil nutrients and increase the plant yield (White et al, 2019; Xia et al, 2019) project them as candidates holding high promise for use in crop improvement
Summary
Endophytes are microbes residing within plants without causing any harm to their growth and development. Fungal Endophyte-Mediated Crop Improvement here, are effective in combating several abiotic stresses faced by their host plants, such as drought, salinity, nutrient deficiency, and metal toxicity, etc., and biotic stresses caused by pathogens and insect pests (Waller et al, 2005; Hardoim et al, 2008; Rho et al, 2018a; Manasa et al, 2020; Sampangi-Ramaiah et al, 2020).
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