Towards a Better Understanding of Turfgrass-Endophyte Symbiosis Using Next-Generation Sequencing.

Our research aims to gain insight into the biological process of plant-microbe symbiotic interactions using high-throughput DNA sequencing. Primarily, we are interested in how the plant’s gene expression profile is impacted by the presence of a naturally occurring fungal endophyte. Symbiosis between fungi and plants in nature is well documented. Yet, much research is still needed to fully comprehend the workings of this important interaction in regards to plant evolution, breeding and physiological performance.

One such symbiotic association of interest takes place between Festuca rubra, a commercially important grass species known as fine fescue, and Epichloë festucae, a fungal endophyte that lives within its grass host. Studies have revealed that Epichloë endophytes live entirely within the plant, and provide a wide range of benefits to their grass hosts, principally resistance to insect and mammalian herbivores. E. festucae infection of F. rubra also confers fungal disease resistance to the host. These observations are important because resistance to diseases has not been documented in other cool season grass-endophyte interactions.

We have utilized transcriptome analysis to address fundamental aspects of plant-endophyte symbiosis in order to facilitate large-scale comparative analysis. Analysis of the data has revealed plant transcriptional changes in response to fungal endophyte infection. Ultimately, these findings will enrich our overall understanding of how symbiotic relationships in nature, a complex interplay between host plants and their microbe symbionts, are maintained. Specifically, the research will contribute to the knowledge of the symbiosis between a grass host plant and its fungal endophyte by identifying the important genes responsible for maintaining the equilibrium, where both plant and endophyte thrive.