Endophytic Beauveria bassiana promotes plant biomass growth and suppresses pathogen damage by directional recruitment

Abstract

IntroductionEntomopathogenic fungi (EPF) can colonize and establish symbiotic relationships with plants as endophytes. Recently, EPF have been reported to suppress plant pathogens and induce plant resistance to diseases. However, the potential mechanisms via which EPF as endophytes control major plant diseases in situ remain largely unknown.MethodsPot and field experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanisms via which an EPF, Beauveria bassiana, colonizes tomato, under Botrytis cinerea infection stress. B. bassiana blastospores were inoculated into tomato plants by root irrigation. Tomato resistance to tomato gray mold caused by B. cinerea was evaluated by artificial inoculation, and B. bassiana colonization in plants and rhizosphere soil under B. cinerea infection stress was evaluated by colony counting and quantitative PCR. Furthermore, the expression levels of three disease resistance-related genes (OXO, CHI, and atpA) in tomato leaves were determined to explore the effect of B. bassiana colonization on plant disease resistance performance in pot experiments.ResultsB. bassiana colonization could improve resistance of tomato plants to gray mold caused by B. cinerea. The incidence rate, lesion diameter, and disease index of gray mold decreased in both the pot and field experiments following B. bassiana colonization. B. bassiana was more likely to accumulate in the pathogen infected leaves, while decreasing in the rhizosphere soil, and induced the expression of plant resistance genes, which were up-regulated in leaves.DiscussionThe results indicated that plants could “recruit” B. bassiana from rhizosphere soil to diseased plants as directional effects, which then enhanced plant growth and resistance against pathogens, consequently inhibiting pathogen infection and multiplication in plants. Our findings provide novel insights that enhance our understanding of the roles of EPF during pathogen challenge.

Soil pH, developmental stages and geographical origin differently influence the root metabolomic diversity and root-related microbial diversity of Echium vulgare from native habitats

“…the rhizosphere microbial communities thriving at the root-soil interface by root exudates ( Kawasaki et al., 2016 ; Zhalnina et al., 2018 ), and the endosphere or root inhabiting microbiota by the root metabolism ( Pang et al., 2021a ). Plants are known to actively recruit beneficial microorganisms from the surrounding soil through numerous mechanisms as a response to various environmental signals, such as pathogen presence ( Liu et al., 2021 ; Sui et al., 2023 ) or through the signaling of already present endophytes ( Ujvári et al., 2021 ). Plant-associated microbial communities are further influenced by the plant genotype ( Brown et al., 2020 ; Cordovez et al., 2021 ) and plant developmental stage ( Yuan et al., 2015 ; Cordovez et al., 2021 ).…”

In Planta Detection of Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) Strains as Endophytes in Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

“…Some protect host plants from stress and promote their growth [ 3 , 4 ]. In addition to Beauveria bassiana ’s potential as an entomopathogen, this fungus establishes as an endophyte, after being naturally implanted in plant tissues or artificially applied, which protects from herbivores [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], pathogens [ 8 , 9 ], or abiotic stress, among others [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Serratia plymuthicaHK9‐3 enhances tomato resistance against Phytophthora capsici by modulating antioxidant defense systems and rhizosphere micro‐ecological condition

“…PGPR can colonize the rhizosphere of plants, enhance the activity of plant antioxidant enzymes, induce the expression of plant resistance genes, and thus protect plants from pathogenic bacteria (Fu et al, 2017;Qiu et al, 2022;Sui et al, 2023). For example, the Serratia plymuthica (S. plymuthica) A21-4 screened from onion rhizosphere soil has a strong antagonistic ability against P. capsici, and has a strong inhibitory effect on the hyphal growth, formation and germination of zoospores and sporangia of P. capsici (Shen et al, 2005).…”