Endophyte-Switchgrass Interaction

Endophyte is a bacterium or fungus that lives within a plant for at least part of its life without causing apparent disease. Usually it is natural existing microorganism and can benefit the plant host by increasing nutrient acquisition, stress tolerance, and pathogen resistance. In collaboration with Dr. Barry Flinn, we are investigating effects of a bacterium endophyte on switchgrass growth. The preliminary results showed that the endophyte significantly increases root growth compared with control plants in vitro. Plants with the endophyte had much bigger plant size, greener leaves, longer and thicker roots, thus significantly increased biomass yield. We will study the expression of genes involved in biomass production using real time RT-PCR method. Also we will test if the endophyte can enhance plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as drought, cold and heat tolerance, and rust resistance in collaboration with Dr. Bingyu Zhao in Department of Horticulture, Virginia Tech.