Abstract Detail

The negotiated surveillance of parts and wholes: a symbioses-centered perspective on plant biology research

Nelson, Jessica Marie [1].

Interactions of the Liverwort Marchantia polymorpha with its Fungal Endophytes.

Most groups of plants, including bryophytes, harbor diverse communities of fungi inside their healthy tissues. These organisms, called fungal endophytes (hereafter simply endophytes), can affect plant success in multiple ways including improving plant growth, competitiveness, disease resistance, and tolerance of abiotic stress conditions. Previous studies of bryophyte endophytes have mostly focused on describing fungal community diversity, not testing function of the associations. I have established fungal cultures from surface-sterilized tissues of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha and am testing the effects of each of the fungi on growth of the liverwort host under laboratory conditions. Using the growth of the liverwort when combined with a particular fungus as a measure of fungal effect, I have observed positive (growth-enhancing), negative (pathogenic or growth-retarding), and neutral effects. Mapping these effects onto the phylogeny of the tested fungi has begun to reveal some patterns of closely related groups of fungi having similar effects on M. polymorpha hosts. The experimental system of M. polymorpha and its endophytes provides a great opportunity to directly study how bryophytes and fungi interact. Using the liverwort system also provides an evolutionarily significant point of comparison for the better studied angiosperm endophytes since liverworts are very early diverging land plants (embryophytes).

1 - Duke University, Biology, Box 90338, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

Keywords:
Liverwort
Bryophyte
fungal endophytes.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY16
Location: Salon 4/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Time: 10:45 AM
Number: SY16007
Abstract ID:805
Candidate for Awards:None