Fungal Pathogen Increases Potential Seed Yield in Turfgrasses

By Matthew Sheltra and David R. Huff, Center for Turfgrass Science, Plant Science Dept. Penn State

Interactions between turfgrass hosts and fungal organisms can be problematic (like dollar spot disease) or advantageous, such as the symbiotic relationship between endophytic Neotyphodium and several genera of turfgrasses. In the Huff lab at Penn State, a unique pathogenhost system is being studied which does not benefit the plant but may ultimately benefit turfgrass seed production. When dioecious buffalograss is infected with the endophyte Salmacisia buchloëana, a series of developmental changes take place. S. buchloëana induces opposite sex organs in both male and female plants. The fungus also leads to an alteration of meristem determinacy, resulting in a greater number of flowers compared to uninfected plants, which in turn increases ovary production ten-fold (Chandra, 2007). For example, a non-infected that produces 10 flowers will produce 100 flowers when infected. Currently, our research aims to unravel the mechanisms through which S. buchloëana alters its host via genetic, metabolic, and morphological analysis of the system. Through this work, we hope to find how the fungus triggers increased ovary production so that we might replicate those conditions in the absence of the pathogen and in doing so, increase seed yield dramatically in buffalograss and in other turfgrass species.

FIGURE 1 A: Flowers of male buffalograss only produce orange male anthers

FIGURE 1 B: the same plant infected with the fungus Salmacisia buchloëana produces purple female pistils (right), an organ that male plants are geneticallyprogrammed not to produce.