Effects of Epichloë endophyte on antioxidant enzymes activities, photosynthesis and growth of three ecotypes of Elymus dahuricus

Abstract

Fungal endophytes of some cultivated grasses can increase plant performance and competitive abilities, especially under stress. Far less is known about the influence of Epichloë infections in wild populations of wild grasses. In this study, plants of three Elymus dahuricus ecotypes (WLS, QY and WTS) either infected with Epichloë endophyte (E+) or uninfected (E–) were grown in the field. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, and concentrations of H₂O₂ and malondialdehyde were examined in the leaves of E+ and E– plants. We also determined photosynthesis parameters, leaf blade and sheath carbohydrate concentration and plant growth parameters of both E+ and E– plants. E+ plants from the WLS and QY populations had significantly higher antioxidant enzyme activities and photosynthetic capability (P<0.05), superior growth characteristics including more abundant carbohydrate concentration than E– plants. In contrast, in plants from the WTS population, the endophyte had no significant effect on reactive oxygen species scavenging capability and growth performance (P>0.05), and even displayed some negative effects on plant photosynthetic capability. Thus, endophyte infection significantly affected E. dahuricus antioxidant enzyme activities (P<0.05), photosynthesis and growth capability, although, the effects varied with plant ecotypes.

Keywords

antioxidant enzymes / Elymus dahuricus / Epichloë / fungal endophyte / photosynthesis

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported financially by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB138702).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Yuping Zhang, Yanfei Zhou, Xingxu Zhang, Tingyu Duan, and Zhibiao Nan declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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The Author(s) 2018. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)