Epicoccum nigrum P16, a Sugarcane Endophyte, Produces Antifungal Compounds and Induces Root Growth

Abstract

BackgroundSugarcane is one of the most important crops in Brazil, mainly because of its use in biofuel production. Recent studies have sought to determine the role of sugarcane endophytic microbial diversity in microorganism-plant interactions, and their biotechnological potential. Epicoccum nigrum is an important sugarcane endophytic fungus that has been associated with the biological control of phytopathogens, and the production of secondary metabolites. In spite of several studies carried out to define the better conditions to use E. nigrum in different crops, little is known about the establishment of an endophytic interaction, and its potential effects on plant physiology.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe report an approach based on inoculation followed by re-isolation, molecular monitoring, microscopic analysis, plant growth responses to fungal colonization, and antimicrobial activity tests to study the basic aspects of the E. nigrum endophytic interaction with sugarcane, and the effects of colonization on plant physiology. The results indicate that E. nigrum was capable of increasing the root system biomass and producing compounds that inhibit the in vitro growth of sugarcane pathogens Fusarium verticillioides, Colletotrichum falcatum, Ceratocystis paradoxa, and Xanthomomas albilineans. In addition, E. nigrum preferentially colonizes the sugarcane surface and, occasionally, the endophytic environment.Conclusions/SignificanceOur work demonstrates that E. nigrum has great potential for sugarcane crop application because it is capable of increasing the root system biomass and controlling pathogens. The study of the basic aspects of the interaction of E. nigrum with sugarcane demonstrated the facultative endophytism of E. nigrum and its preference for the phylloplane environment, which should be considered in future studies of biocontrol using this species. In addition, this work contributes to the knowledge of the interaction of this ubiquitous endophyte with the host plant, and also to a better use of microbial endophytes in agriculture.

Characterization of community structure of culturable endophytic fungi in sweet cherry composite trees and their growth-retarding effect against pathogens

“…Fusarium is a serious plant pathogen, but many non-pathogenic endophytic Fusarium isolates have been reported in the literature [24]. E. nigrum has also been described as frequently occurring endophyte, mostly detected in phylloplane environment that is in good agreement with our findings in sweet cherry (see Table 1; [11,28]). While Alternaria, Fusarium and Epicoccum were detected in roots, shoots and leaves, the presence of several other endophytes seems to be organ specific.…”

Fungal community in olive fruits of cultivars with different susceptibilities to anthracnose and selection of isolates to be used as biocontrol agents

“…Madural. In this work was additionally found a number of nonpathogenic OTUs, being some of them described in the literature as presenting the useful features of antagonism against phytopathogens, such as Chaetomium globosum (Awad et al, 2014), Epicoccum nigrum (Fávaro et al, 2012), Penicillium brevicompactum (Jackson et al, 1997) and Trichoderma koningii (Reddy et al, 2014), and/or entomopathogenecity (e.g. Aspergillus westerdijkiae; Baggio et al, 2016).…”

“…Previous studies have also reported the potential of C. globosum and E. nigrum to reduce the growth of several phytopathogenic fungi (e.g. Aggarwal, 2015;Biswas et al, 2012;Fávaro et al, 2012;Lahlali and Hijri, 2010); however, this is the first work showing an effective antagonist activity of these two species against C. acutatum. Similarly, studies examining antagonistic effect of A. westerdijkiae against phytopathogens have never been performed, being only tested its entomopathogenic properties against Periplaneta americana (Baggio et al, 2016).…”

“…Both species are also known to produce lytic enzymes (e.g. xylanase and β 1,3-glucanase) (Aggarwal, 2015;Fávaro et al, 2012).…”

Quality control by leaf-cutting ants: evidence from communities of endophytic fungi in foraged and rejected vegetation

“…We cannot comment at this stage on the morphospecies, but three of the fungal genera identified, Epicoccum, Trichoderma and Ulocladium, contain mycoparasitic species. Some endophytic Epicoccum species have been screened as potential biocontrol agents of fungal pathogens of diverse crops, including potato, sugarcane and stone fruits (De Cal et al 2009;Lahlali and Hijri 2010;Fávaro et al 2012); whilst Trichoderma is a well known mycoparasitic genus that has been widely used for biocontrol of plant pathogens (Harman 2000; Holmes et al 2004)). Similarly, some Ulocladium species have also generated interest as mycoparasites of plant pathogens, and Kohl et al (1997) reported that Ulocladium atrum is antagonistic to Botrytis disease in onions.…”