title: Epichloae infection in a native South African grass, Festuca costata Nees.
abstract: Fungal endophytes have been documented in almost all terrestrial plant groups. Although the endophyte infection syndrome in agronomic cultivars is well studied, relatively little work addresses questions of spatial ecology and fire effects on epichloae endophyte infection in native grasses, and none, to our knowledge, in sub-Saharan Africa. We sampled seven populations of the native Festuca costata Nees along the spline of the Drakensberg range in South Africa at several spatial scales, including both recently burned and unburned stands. We tested epichloae presence and prevalence with immunoblot assays, PCR and genetic sequencing. We found epichloae endophytes were present and prevalent (38-98% infection rates depending on location). Variation in infection rates occurred primarily among locations, but also among bunches. There was little evidence that endophyte infection rates varied with fire. Novel evidence of epichloae infection of a native Festuca in South Africa opens the door to several new research questions, from the phylogenetic relationship between epichloae of sub-Saharan Africa and other continents to the ecological advantages or disadvantages that endophytes confer upon their hosts, especially in a fire-prone ecosystem vulnerable to global environmental change.
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Resource Sciences - Range Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3763-7641
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: McGranahan
authors.affiliation: Plant Pathology, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burgdorf
authors.affiliation: Grassland Science, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kirkman
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017753:Ecosystem; D060026:Endophytes; D055329:Epichloe / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D031751:Festuca / Q000382:microbiology*; D005390:Fires; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa
keywords: Epichloë; Neotyphodium; fungal endophytes; spatial scale of fungal endophyte infection