Isolation and identification of Epichloё sp. infecting Stipa aliena in alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

doi:10.11686/cyxb2018470

Abstract

Abstract: Stipa aliena is one of the important native plant species and a dominant grass species in alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There has been little study of the endophyte(s) of S. aliena; therefore, in order to determine colonisation morphology and taxonomic status of the endophytes of this grass, samples of S. aliena were isolated from two different geographical populations, and the morphological features of endophyte strains found were observed. In addition, three housekeeper genes (tub, actin, tef) were selected for amplification of specific gene fragments in order to construct phylogenetic trees for each housekeeper gene for the endophyte species recovered. The endophyte morphological traits, such as colonisation morphology, hyphal growth rate, spore morphology and size were consistent with the recovered endophytes being Epichloё sp. Phylogenetic trees for tub and actin indicated that endophytes isolated from S. aliena had a close relationship with Epichloё gansuensis and Epichloё sylvatica; however, phylogenetic trees for tef showed that endophytes isolated from S. aliena were closely related to E. gansuensis and E. inebrians. Therefore, the endophytes of S. aliena were preliminarily identified as E. gansuensis from China (Xinjiang), E. inebrians from China (Gansu) and E. sylvatica from Europe. Our results suggest that the host-specificity might not be strongly developed in endophytes infecting S. aliena, and that different Epichloё species have independently developed a symbiotic relationship with the host grass S. aliena.

Key words: Stipa aliena, Qinghai plateau, Epichloë, systematic evolution, diversity, host specificity

BAO Gen-sheng, YU Yong-fei, LI Chun-jie. Isolation and identification of Epichloё sp. infecting Stipa aliena in alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2019, 28(8): 150-160.

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