Advancement in the molecular perspective of plant-endophytic interaction to mitigate drought stress in plants

Abstract

Change in global climate has started to show its effect in the form of extremes of temperatures and water scarcity which is bound to impact adversely the global food security in near future. In the current review we discuss the impact of drought on plants and highlight the ability of endophytes, microbes that inhabit the plants asymptomatically, to confer stress tolerance to their host. For this we first describe the symbiotic association between plant and the endophytes and then focus on the molecular and physiological strategies/mechanisms adopted by these endophytes to confer stress tolerance. These include root alteration, osmotic adjustment, ROS scavenging, detoxification, production of phytohormones, and promoting plant growth under adverse conditions. The review further elaborates on how omics-based techniques have advanced our understanding of molecular basis of endophyte mediated drought tolerance of host plant. Detailed analysis of whole genome sequences of endophytes followed by comparative genomics facilitates in identification of genes involved in endophyte-host interaction while functional genomics further unveils the microbial targets that can be exploited for enhancing the stress tolerance of the host. Thus, an amalgamation of endophytes with other sustainable agricultural practices seems to be an appeasing approach to produce climate-resilient crops.

Ethyl Acetate Extract of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Promotes Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis in Human Breast Cancer Cells

“…The immense biological diversity and the potential ability to produce host-derived bioactive compounds have driven the scientific community to elucidate the pharmacological aspects of fungal endophytes. Various bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic significance including paclitaxel, podophyllotoxin, deoxypodophyllotoxin, camptothecin, hypericin and emodin, azadirachtin, and vinca alkaloids have been identified and characterized from the plant-associated fungal endophytes. , Numerous hyphenated mass-spectroscopy-based techniques, such as GC/MS, LC/MS, FT-IR, HRMS, and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C), are being used to characterize the bioactive compounds produced from fungal endophytes. , In addition, the bioinformatics tool and in silico -based approaches are also being used to study the therapeutic role of natural bioactive compounds produced from either plants or plant-associated microorganisms in many diseases, including cancer. − Furthermore, fungal endophytes are reported to play a vital role in the maintenance of plant health and growth promotion, which results in an improved potential in plants to acclimatize biotic and abiotic stresses. − Besides the augmentation of host plant growth and enhancing the resistance of the host plant against biotic and abiotic stress, the fungal endophyte also plays a vital role in the accretion of bioactive compounds similar to their host plants. Fungal endophytes have therefore been demonstrated to produce a wide range of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic value as well as to protect the host plant species from several pests and infectious diseases. , Occasionally, the endophytic strains produce novel pharmacologically active and structurally diverse secondary metabolites which are not present in their host’s tissues.…”

“… 6 − 8 Furthermore, fungal endophytes are reported to play a vital role in the maintenance of plant health and growth promotion, which results in an improved potential in plants to acclimatize biotic and abiotic stresses. 9 − 11 Besides the augmentation of host plant growth and enhancing the resistance of the host plant against biotic and abiotic stress, the fungal endophyte also plays a vital role in the accretion of bioactive compounds similar to their host plants. Fungal endophytes have therefore been demonstrated to produce a wide range of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic value as well as to protect the host plant species from several pests and infectious diseases.…”

Isolation and characterization of N‐(2‐Hydroxyethyl)hexadecanamide from Colletotrichum gloeosporioides with apoptosis‐inducing potential in breast cancer cells

“…Many theories have been proposed regarding the host-endophyte relationship, among which "balanced antagonism" depicts that by overcoming the physical and chemical barriers, endophytic fungi establish interaction with their host plants. 1,2 It illustrates that such balance between endophytes and the host plants establishes asymptomatic colonization of fungal endophytes and symptoms appear upon prevention of fungal virulence factors by plants. 3 Various spectroscopic techniques such as GC-MS, tandem liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS), UV-Vis, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), time-of-flight MS (TOF-MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are being used for characterization of bioactive components produced by fungal endophytes.…”

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Effects of Essential Oils Extracted from Two New Ocimum basilicum L. Varieties

“…In this context, the research and development of new varieties of MAPs can be approached from several perspectives, including new uses, botanical and phytochemical characterization, crop management, with new economic and industrial implications. In the context of climate change, the MAPs exposure to (a)biotic stress, including extreme temperatures, drought, flooding, diseases caused by pests, etc., affects the functionality of cellular and metabolic processes, limiting their growth and development, and finally reducing the yield and quality of the productions obtained [1][2][3][4]. Agrochemicals have been used to avoid losses associated with biotic stress; however, the irrational use has led to their accumulation in the food chain, with implications for human health and causing several environmental problems [5].…”