title: The endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica reprograms barley to salt-stress tolerance, disease resistance, and higher yield.
abstract: Disease resistance strategies are powerful approaches to sustainable agriculture because they reduce chemical input into the environment. Recently, Piriformospora indica, a plant-root-colonizing basidiomycete fungus, has been discovered in the Indian Thar desert and was shown to provide strong growth-promoting activity during its symbiosis with a broad spectrum of plants. Here, we report on the potential of P. indica to induce resistance to fungal diseases and tolerance to salt stress in the monocotyledonous plant barley. The beneficial effect on the defense status is detected in distal leaves, demonstrating a systemic induction of resistance by a root-endophytic fungus. The systemically altered "defense readiness" is associated with an elevated antioxidative capacity due to an activation of the glutathione-ascorbate cycle and results in an overall increase in grain yield. Because P. indica can be easily propagated in the absence of a host plant, we conclude that the fungus could be exploited to increase disease resistance and yield in crop plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, University of Giessen, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Achatz
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baltruschat
authors.forename: József
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fodor
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heier
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hückelhoven
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Diter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: von Wettstein
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kogel
mesh_terms: D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000502:physiology*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000502:physiology*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D001467:Hordeum / Q000502:physiology*; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000502:physiology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000502:physiology; D012492:Salts / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012492:Salts; D005978:Glutathione; D001205:Ascorbic Acid