Root-endophytes improve the ecophysiological performance and production of an agricultural species under drought condition.
Throughout many regions of the world, climate change has limited the availability of water for irrigating crops. Indeed, current models of climate change predict that arid and semi-arid zones will be places where precipitation will drastically decrease. In this context, plant root-associated fungi appear as a new strategy to improve ecophysiological performance and yield of crops under abiotic stress. Thus, use of fungal endophytes from ecosystems currently subjected to severe drought conditions could improve the ecophysiological performance and quantum yield of crops exposed to drought. In this study, we evaluated how the inoculation of fungal endophytes isolated from Antarctic plants can improve the net photosynthesis, water use efficiency and production of fresh biomass in a lettuce cultivar, grown under different water availability regimes. In addition, we assessed if the presence of biochemical mechanisms and gene expression related with environmental tolerance are improved in presence of fungal endophytes. Overall, those individuals with presence of endophytes showed higher net photosynthesis and maintained higher water use efficiency in drought conditions, which was correlated with greater fresh and dry biomass production as well as greater root system development. In addition, presence of fungal endophytes was correlated with a higher proline concentration, lower peroxidation of lipids and up-/down-regulation of ion homeostasis. Our results suggest that presence of fungal endophytes could minimize the negative effect of drought by improving drought tolerance through biochemical mechanisms and improving nutritional status. Thus, root-endophytes might be a successful biotechnological tool to maintain high levels of ecophysiological performance and productivity in zones under drought.
Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Avenida Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile marco.molina@utalca.cl.|Núcleo Milenio "Centro en Ecología Molecular y Aplicaciones Evolutivas en Agroecosistemas (CEM)", Avda. Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile.|Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo #1281, Coquimbo, Chile.|Research Program "Adaptation of the Agriculture to Climate Change" PIEI A2C2, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile.
Marco A
MA
Molina-Montenegro
Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo #1281, Coquimbo, Chile.
Rómulo
R
Oses
Laboratorio de Genómica & Biodiversidad (LGB), Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillan, Chile.
Cristian
C
Torres-Díaz
Laboratorio de Anatomía y Ecología Funcional de Plantas, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Campus Curauma, Valparaíso, Chile.
Cristian
C
Atala
Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), Centro de Investigación Intihuasi, Colina San Joaquín s/n, La Serena, Chile.
Andrés
A
Zurita-Silva
Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Avenida Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile.
Simón
S
Ruiz-Lara
Drought tolerance; NHX1 gene expression; lettuce; symbiosis; water use efficiency