Characterization of the endophytic fungal communities associated to Coleostephus myconis: looking for potential repellent/attractant compounds towards Philaenus spumarius
Philaenus spumarius is a xylem feeding insect identified so far as the only vector
involved in the first European outbreak of the phytobacterium Xylella fastidiosa, affecting
and devastating olive groves in Italy. One approach to reduce X. fastidiosa transmission
could rely in the vector control through the use of baits to attract and/or repel de insect.
Fungal endophytes inhabiting plants provide a source of candidate repellent/attractant
compounds. In this work, the endophytic fungi community associated to the weed
Coleostephus myconis, was studied in order to identified potential fungi that can be used as
attractants or repellents of P. spumarius. Coleostephus myconis is common in olive groves
and preferentially used by P. spumarius for the nymph development. Fungi were isolated
from the stems, leaves and inflorescences from plants with three levels of P. spumarius
infestation (i.e. no infestation, moderate and high infestation). The fungal isolates obtained
were identified by sequencing the ITS region of rDNA and the partial tef1. Overall, was
obtained 138 taxa belonging to 37 different genera. The endophytic community
composition differs between infested and non-infested plants, solely at stems level, where
the P. spumarius foam nests are present. The fungal genera, Cytospora, Diaporthe and
Penicillium, which are well-known with producers of volatiles compounds repellent activity
against insect, were found only on non-infested plants. Botrytis was restricted to infested
plants. The behavioral responses and preferences of P. spumarius for C.
myconis plants colonized by these endophytes should be investigated in the future.This work is funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and
Technology - FCT - in the scope of the project PTDC/AGR-PRO/0856/2014 XF-FREEOLIVE:
Multifunctional study of xylem-sap of Portuguese olive cultivars and its relation with susceptibility to
infection by Xylella fastidiosa, and by European fund in the scope of the project H2020-SFS-2016-3 XF-ACTORS - Xylella fastidiosa active containment through a multidisciplinary-oriented research strategyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
