Mortierella elongata Increases Plant Biomass among Non-Leguminous Crop Species

Kaile Zhang,Rytas Vilgalys,Gregory Bonito,Chih-Ming Hsu,Khalid Hameed,Hui-Ling Liao

doi:10.3390/agronomy10050754

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that M. elongata (M. elongata) isolated from Populus field sites has a dual endophyte–saprotroph lifestyle and is able to promote the growth of Populus. However, little is known about the host fidelity of M. elongata and whether M. elongata strains differ from one another in their ability to promote plant growth. Here, we compared the impacts of three Populus-associated M. elongata isolates (PMI 77, PMI 93, and PMI 624) on the growth of seven different crop species by measuring plant height, plant dry biomass, and leaf area. M. elongata isolates PMI 624 and PMI 93 increased the plant height, leaf area, and plant dry weight of Citrullus lanatus, Zea mays, Solanum lycopersicum, and Cucurbita to a much greater degree than PMI 77 (33.9% to 14.1%). No significant impacts were observed for any isolate on the growth of Abelmoschus esculentus or Glycine max. On the contrary, Glycine max significantly decreased in height by 30.6% after the inoculation of M. elongata PMI 77. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that M. elongata generally promoted metrics of the plant performance among a diverse set of importantly non-leguminous crop species. Future research on understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie strain and host variability is warranted.

Highlights

Mortierella elongata, a member of the early-diverging Mortierellomycota, is a cosmopolitan fungal species that is often isolated from soils or roots. [1,2]
PMI 77 and PMI 624 had a substantial increase of 34.3% and 39.6% in the plant height of Paspalum notatum, respectively
We demonstrated the potential of M. elongata for plant growth promotion in diverse crops and grass

Summary

Introduction

Mortierella elongata, a member of the early-diverging Mortierellomycota, is a cosmopolitan fungal species that is often isolated from soils or roots. [1,2]. The ecological function of M. elongata is still not well characterized, but this species appears to be commonly active in soils and rhizospheres [1,2]. (e.g., M. elongata, M. antarctica, and M. verticillata) have the capacity to improve plant growth [1,2,3,4]. This important trait may be associated with the dual lifestyles (i.e., endophyte–saprotroph), and may involve several potential mechanisms. Mortierella may provide nutrition (e.g., nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) to its symbiotic plant partners, as was demonstrated in the interactions between M. elongata and the microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica [7]. Many lineages of fungi bridge the Agronomy 2020, 10, 754; doi:10.3390/agronomy10050754 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy

Methods

Results

Conclusion