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Do Endophytes Promote Growth of Host Plants Under Stress? A Meta-Analysis on Plant Stress Mitigation by Endophytes

  • Plant Microbe Interactions
  • Published:
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Abstract

Endophytes are microbial symbionts living inside plants and have been extensively researched in recent decades for their functions associated with plant responses to environmental stress. We conducted a meta-analysis of endophyte effects on host plants’ growth and fitness in response to three abiotic stress factors: drought, nitrogen deficiency, and excessive salinity. Ninety-four endophyte strains and 42 host plant species from the literature were evaluated in the analysis. Endophytes increased biomass accumulation of host plants under all three stress conditions. The stress mitigation effects by endophytes were similar among different plant taxa or functional groups with few exceptions; eudicots and C4 species gained more biomass than monocots and C3 species with endophytes, respectively, under drought conditions. Our analysis supports the effectiveness of endophytes in mitigating drought, nitrogen deficiency, and salinity stress in a wide range of host species with little evidence of plant-endophyte specificity.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge our previous and current graduate students in the lab at the time this meta-analysis was being prepared for publication: Matthew Flora-Tostado, Hannah Kinmonth-Schultz, Marlies Kovenock, Jennifer Hsiao, and Kyungdahm Yun. The USDA-NIFA grant 2012-68002-19824 supported this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-2100, USA

    Hyungmin Rho, Marian Hsieh, Shyam L. Kandel, Sharon L. Doty & Soo-Hyung Kim

  2. Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1800, USA

    Johanna Cantillo

Authors
  1. Hyungmin Rho
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  2. Marian Hsieh
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  3. Shyam L. Kandel
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  4. Johanna Cantillo
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  5. Sharon L. Doty
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  6. Soo-Hyung Kim
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Contributions

HR and SHK conceived the idea. HR, MH, SLK, and JC designed the analysis and collected the data. HR performed the analysis. SLD and SHK provided materials and resources. HR, MH, SLK, SLD, and SHK wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Hyungmin Rho.

Electronic Supplementary Material

The interactive version of Fig. 4 with the full information about the meta-analysis is available (Fig. S1, “endo_host_heatmap.html”) online at:

Fig. S1

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Rho, H., Hsieh, M., Kandel, S.L. et al. Do Endophytes Promote Growth of Host Plants Under Stress? A Meta-Analysis on Plant Stress Mitigation by Endophytes. Microb Ecol 75, 407–418 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1054-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1054-3

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