Endophytes (endo = inside and phyte=plant) are microscopic fungi that live inside of the leaves of all species of plants and can have beneficial effects on their hosts. Previous work in our lab has shown a significant decrease of Sporobolomyces sp., an endophytic yeast, within soybean hosts exposed to elevated levels of CO₂. Sporobolomyces sp. has certain properties to enable them to act as natural biocontrol agents. This pink yeast may have untapped potential to protect crops from pathogenic organisms. If Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with fungal pathogens, it may have strong effects on other fungal endophytes in the community. The aim of this experiment was to examine how Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with endophytes isolated from soy leaves both in terms of fungal growth and phenotypic changes

Basurto, Baldemar

Christian, Natalie

Heath, Katy

English

SPARK: Scholarship at Parkland | Parkland College

Baldemar Basurto,1 Natalie Christian,2 and Katy Heath2  
Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, California1 
Department of Plant Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign2  
 
 
 
 
Fungal Endophytes Interact with Endophytic Yeast Isolated from Soybean Leaves 
Acknowledgments 
 
Financial support was provided by the National Science 
Foundation under grant #NSF REU 1559908/1559929, as 
part of the Phenotypic Plasticity Research Experience for 
Community College Students, through the University of Illinois 
at Urbana-Champaign Institute for Genomic Biology and 
Parkland College. http://precs.igb.illinois.edu/ 
  
I would like to thank my mentor Natalie Christian and  faculty 
mentor Katy Heath for welcoming me to their lab. Also, thanks 
to Alex Riley and everyone in lab for contributing to a friendly 
work environment. Thank you also to the project PIs Dr. 
Nathan Schroeder and Dr. C. Britt Carlson for this opportunity, 
and technical and support staff at the Institute for Genomic 
Biology. 
 
 
References 
Hiber-Bodmer, et al. ( 2017). “Competition assays and 
physiological experiments of soil and phyllosphere yeasts 
identify Candida subhashii as a novel antagonist of 
filamentous fungi”. BMC Microbiology. 
 
Rodriguez, et al. (2009). “Fungal endophytes: diversity 
and functional roles” New Phytologist. 
 
 
Methods 
  
• 31 fungal samples were cultivated in Petri Dishes with 
Malt Extract Agar. These samples were previously 
isolated from leaves of soy plants. 
 
• Plates were spread with a  
     Sporobolomyces sp.  suspension.  
 
 
• From each sample four fungal plugs were taken and 
each placed in the center of the yeast plates (Y+). An 
additional four plugs were placed on control plates (Y-) 
that lacked the yeast suspension.  
 
• The growth and interactions of the fungi and yeast 
were compared between the Y- and Y+ groups. 
 
• For Experiment 1, the yeast were cultivated overnight 
before plating the fungi. For Experiment 2, the 
cultivation of yeast was increased to four days. 
 
 
Introduction 
 
•Endophytes (endo = inside and phyte=plant) are 
microscopic fungi that live inside of the leaves of all 
species of plants and can have beneficial effects on their 
hosts.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
•Sporobolomyces sp. has certain properties to enable 
them to act as natural biocontrol agents. This pink yeast 
may have untapped potential to protect crops from 
pathogenic  organisms.  
 
• If Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with fungal pathogens, 
it may have strong effects on other fungal endophytes in 
the community. 
 
The aim of this experiment was to: Examine how 
Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with endophytes 
isolated from soy leaves both in terms of fungal 
growth and phenotypic changes.  
 
Results 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusions 
•Individual fungal endophyte species exhibited a wide 
range of responses when interacting with an endophytic 
yeast species.  
 
•Sporobolomyces sp. may influence the population 
growth of other endophytic fungal species in its 
community, which could have positive or negative effects 
on plant health and physiology. 
 
  
 
Future Work 
We will conduct a third experiment testing how 
Sporobolomyces sp. affects growth of Colletotrichum sp.1 
isolated from ambient and elevated CO₂ environments.  
 
Species Sample Experiment 1 Experiment 2 
Alternaria sp.  A2.6.6     
Alternaria sp.  E2.3.11     
Bipolaris sp.  E2.6.7     
Chaetomium sp.  A2.5.7     
Chaetomium sp.  E2.10.4     Yeast Decreases Growth (significant) 
Cochliobolus sp.  A3.1.15     
Colletotrichum sp. 1  A2.15.1     
Colletotrichum sp. 1  E3.5.10     
Colletotrichum sp. 2  A3.5.4     
Colletotrichum sp. 2  E1.8.4     
Colletotrichum sp. 3  A2.6.3     
Colletotrichum sp. 3  E2.2.4     
Diaporthe sp. A1.7.8     
Diaporthe sp. E3.4.15     
Fusarium sp.  A1.13.2     
Glomerella sp. A1.13.13     
Hypoxylon sp.  A2.15.15     
Microdochium sp.  E2.5.13     
Nigrospora sp.  A1.3.4     
Nigrospora sp.  E2.2.7     
Ophiosphaerella sp.  E3.12.10     
Pestalotiopsis sp.  E1.6.11     
Phaeosphaeriaceae sp.  E2.7.16     
Phomopsis sp.  A3.11.4     Yeast Increases Growth (significant) 
Phomopsis sp.  E2.5.5     Yeast Increases Growth (non-significant) 
Sordariomycetes sp. 1  A1.6.15   NA Yeast Does Not Affect Growth 
Sordariomycetes sp. 2  A3.5.2     Yeast Decreases Growth (non-significant) 
Sordariomycetes sp. 3  A3.3.5     Yeast Decreases Growth (significant) 
Sphaerulina sp.  A2.4.8     
Sphaerulina sp.  E2.13.5     
Talaromyces sp.  A1.5.8     
A Y- plate from the Alternaria 
sp. group.  
A Y+ plate from the Alternaria 
sp. group experiencing an 
inhibition of fungal growth from 
the pink yeast. 
1 
2 
3 
The presence of the yeast caused more changes in fungal growth in Experiment 2 compared to 
Experiment 1. Overall, the effects on fungal growth tended to be negative. 
The magnitude of these changes in growth was greater in Experiment 2 compared to 
Experiment 1. 
Previous work in our lab identified 
positive and negative correlations 
between fungi and yeast in soybean. 
Most of the fungal endophytes were 
predicted to have negative correlations 
with Sporobolomyces sp., but this was 
not always the case in our experimental 
tests. 
1 
2 
3 
4 The presence of yeast also caused phenotypic changes in certain fungal endophytes. 
Change in 
fungal 
patterns in  
Y- and Y+ 
plates of 
Alternaria sp. 
Change in color 
and size in Y- 
and Y+ plates of 
Colletotrichum 
sp. 3  
 
 
•Previous work in 
our lab has shown 
a significant 
decrease of 
Sporobolomyces 
sp., an endophytic 
yeast, within 
soybean hosts 
exposed to 
elevated levels of 
CO₂ (See the 
figure). 


Fungal Endophytes Interact with Endophytic Yeast Isolated from Soybean Leaves

Scholarship at Parkland

Baldemar Basurto,1 Natalie Christian,2 and Katy Heath2  Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, California1 Department of Plant Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign2      Fungal Endophytes Interact with Endophytic Yeast Isolated from Soybean Leaves Acknowledgments  Financial support was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant #NSF REU 1559908/1559929, as part of the Phenotypic Plasticity Research Experience for Community College Students, through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute for Genomic Biology and Parkland College. http://precs.igb.illinois.edu/   I would like to thank my mentor Natalie Christian and  faculty mentor Katy Heath for welcoming me to their lab. Also, thanks to Alex Riley and everyone in lab for contributing to a friendly work environment. Thank you also to the project PIs Dr. Nathan Schroeder and Dr. C. Britt Carlson for this opportunity, and technical and support staff at the Institute for Genomic Biology.   References Hiber-Bodmer, et al. ( 2017). “Competition assays and physiological experiments of soil and phyllosphere yeasts identify Candida subhashii as a novel antagonist of filamentous fungi”. BMC Microbiology.  Rodriguez, et al. (2009). “Fungal endophytes: diversity and functional roles” New Phytologist.   Methods   • 31 fungal samples were cultivated in Petri Dishes with Malt Extract Agar. These samples were previously isolated from leaves of soy plants.  • Plates were spread with a       Sporobolomyces sp.  suspension.    • From each sample four fungal plugs were taken and each placed in the center of the yeast plates (Y+). An additional four plugs were placed on control plates (Y-) that lacked the yeast suspension.   • The growth and interactions of the fungi and yeast were compared between the Y- and Y+ groups.  • For Experiment 1, the yeast were cultivated overnight before plating the fungi. For Experiment 2, the cultivation of yeast was increased to four days.   Introduction  •Endophytes (endo = inside and phyte=plant) are microscopic fungi that live inside of the leaves of all species of plants and can have beneficial effects on their hosts.                •Sporobolomyces sp. has certain properties to enable them to act as natural biocontrol agents. This pink yeast may have untapped potential to protect crops from pathogenic  organisms.   • If Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with fungal pathogens, it may have strong effects on other fungal endophytes in the community.  The aim of this experiment was to: Examine how Sporobolomyces sp. interacts with endophytes isolated from soy leaves both in terms of fungal growth and phenotypic changes.   Results                                Conclusions •Individual fungal endophyte species exhibited a wide range of responses when interacting with an endophytic yeast species.   •Sporobolomyces sp. may influence the population growth of other endophytic fungal species in its community, which could have positive or negative effects on plant health and physiology.     Future Work We will conduct a third experiment testing how Sporobolomyces sp. affects growth of Colletotrichum sp.1 isolated from ambient and elevated CO₂ environments.   Species Sample Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Alternaria sp.  A2.6.6     Alternaria sp.  E2.3.11     Bipolaris sp.  E2.6.7     Chaetomium sp.  A2.5.7     Chaetomium sp.  E2.10.4     Yeast Decreases Growth (significant) Cochliobolus sp.  A3.1.15     Colletotrichum sp. 1  A2.15.1     Colletotrichum sp. 1  E3.5.10     Colletotrichum sp. 2  A3.5.4     Colletotrichum sp. 2  E1.8.4     Colletotrichum sp. 3  A2.6.3     Colletotrichum sp. 3  E2.2.4     Diaporthe sp. A1.7.8     Diaporthe sp. E3.4.15     Fusarium sp.  A1.13.2     Glomerella sp. A1.13.13     Hypoxylon sp.  A2.15.15     Microdochium sp.  E2.5.13     Nigrospora sp.  A1.3.4     Nigrospora sp.  E2.2.7     Ophiosphaerella sp.  E3.12.10     Pestalotiopsis sp.  E1.6.11     Phaeosphaeriaceae sp.  E2.7.16     Phomopsis sp.  A3.11.4     Yeast Increases Growth (significant) Phomopsis sp.  E2.5.5     Yeast Increases Growth (non-significant) Sordariomycetes sp. 1  A1.6.15   NA Yeast Does Not Affect Growth Sordariomycetes sp. 2  A3.5.2     Yeast Decreases Growth (non-significant) Sordariomycetes sp. 3  A3.3.5     Yeast Decreases Growth (significant) Sphaerulina sp.  A2.4.8     Sphaerulina sp.  E2.13.5     Talaromyces sp.  A1.5.8     A Y- plate from the Alternaria sp. group.  A Y+ plate from the Alternaria sp. group experiencing an inhibition of fungal growth from the pink yeast. 1 2 3 The presence of the yeast caused more changes in fungal growth in Experiment 2 compared to Experiment 1. Overall, the effects on fungal growth tended to be negative. The magnitude of these changes in growth was greater in Experiment 2 compared to Experiment 1. Previous work in our lab identified positive and negative correlations between fungi and yeast in soybean. Most of the fungal endophytes were predicted to have negative correlations with Sporobolomyces sp., but this was not always the case in our experimental tests. 1 2 3 4 The presence of yeast also caused phenotypic changes in certain fungal endophytes. Change in fungal patterns in  Y- and Y+ plates of Alternaria sp. Change in color and size in Y- and Y+ plates of Colletotrichum sp. 3    •Previous work in our lab has shown a significant decrease of Sporobolomyces sp., an endophytic yeast, within soybean hosts exposed to elevated levels of CO₂ (See the figure). 

https://spark.parkland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=precs_student

Fungal Endophytes Interact with Endophytic Yeast Isolated from Soybean Leaves

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

SPARK: Scholarship at Parkland | Parkland College

Scholarship at Parkland