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Mysterious grassland symbiosis: How do Epichloë fungi affect grass growth and health?
As grassland ecosystems are increasingly being paid attention to, Epichloë fungi, as a special type of endosymbiotic organism, have demonstrated their important impact on grass plants. These fungi form a stable endophytic symbiotic relationship with grasses and promote the growth and health of the host plants in many ways. Even though their presence can sometimes cause “grass stress” in grass plants, they actually provide a range of benefits, which makes us wonder how these fungi affect our natural environment?
Epichloë species typically grow between plant cells and cause few symptoms of disease in the host plant. They can provide the ability to adapt to adverse conditions and enhance the growth of the host plant.
Epichloë belongs to the phylum Ascomycota, a group of fungi that form endophytic symbioses with grass plants. These fungi are mostly asymptomatic during the life cycle of grasses, but when they reach a certain maturity stage, they will grow between cells in tissues such as the stems, leaves, and inflorescences of the plant. Once the host plant is infected, Epichloë begins to provide multiple benefits, such as increasing the grass's resistance to stress and promoting growth even in adverse conditions. In many cases, these fungi improve the grass' chances of survival by producing a range of bioactive compounds that protect it from herbivores. Among the bioactive compounds discovered by the researchers are various alkaloids, which can have profound effects on grass growth and disease resistance.
Many Epichloë endophytes produce different herbivory inhibitors that help improve grass resistance and growth rates.
According to biologists, Epichloë fungi affect grass plants in several ways: first, they provide defensive compounds to prevent the grass from being eaten by herbivores, thereby increasing the grass's chances of survival and reproduction. Under certain soil-poor conditions, this symbiotic relationship tends to be negatively interactive and even competitive, but this does not prevent their interdependence in a good environment. Further analysis revealed that the way these fungi are spread is also interesting. Epichloë is usually spread vertically through grass seeds, meaning that when the grass produces new shoots, the fungus grows along with the host plant. This characteristic allows them to stabilize the species structure in the ecosystem to a certain extent and enhance the interactions between grass plants.
This special endosymbiotic relationship is not only beneficial to individual plants, but also affects the composition of plant communities and food chains in the ecosystem.
In addition to affecting grass growth, the presence of Epichloë's fungus could change the dynamics of entire ecosystems. Many grass species become more drought-tolerant and disease-resistant because of the presence of these fungi, enhancing their ability to adapt to different environments. Such ecological changes make us rethink the biodiversity of grasslands and its importance. The interactions between grasses and Epichloë fungi in diverse environments demonstrate the complexity of combining ecology and evolutionary biology. Some studies have shown that grazing by herbivores promotes Epichloë infection in grasses, while other studies have shown that relationships between grass species and the fungus are equally responsive to environmental factors and interactions with herbivory. In this case, the anti-herbivory effects of the bioactive compounds, and their possible effects on the growth and physiology of the grass, appear to have triggered the stabilization of this symbiotic relationship. Of course, there are still many questions to be answered about the relationship between Epichloë fungi and grass. As we try to understand this complex ecological network, can we find more ways to promote harmonious coexistence between grasses and fungi?
