Tall Fescue and E. coenophiala Genetics Influence Root-Associated Soil Fungi in a Temperate Grassland.

ABSTRACT: A constitutive, host-specific symbiosis exists between the aboveground fungal endophyte Epichloë coenophiala (Morgan-Jones & W. Gams) and the cool-season grass tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.), which is a common forage grass in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and temperate European grasslands. New cultivars of tall fescue are continually developed to improve pasture productivity and animal health by manipulating both grass and E. coenophiala genetics, yet how these selected grass-endophyte combinations impact other microbial symbionts such as mycorrhizal and dark septate fungi remains unclear. Without better characterizing how genetically distinct grass-endophyte combinations interact with belowground microorganisms, we cannot determine h

SUBMITTER: Slaughter LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6843077 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature