Fungal Endophytes in Stems and Leaves: From Latent Pathogen to Mutualistic Symbiont

TLDR

Endophytes are fungi that silently colonize healthy plant leaves and stems, closely related to pathogens yet often protecting hosts from natural enemies. Endophytes establish either constitutive mutualisms—seed‑borne, widespread colonization of aerial tissues—or inducible mutualisms that remain dormant in vegetative parts and rapidly produce toxins when host tissues are damaged. Mycotoxins from endophytes poison animal herbivores and, in some cases, pathogenic microbes. Endophytes may be as widespread among plants as mycorrhizae.

Abstract

Endophytes are fungi that form inapparent infections within leaves and stems of healthy plants. Closely related to virulent pathogens but with limited, if any, pathogenic effects themselves, many endophytes protect host plants from natural enemies. Animal herbivores and, in some cases, pathogenic microbes are poisoned by the mycotoxins produced by endophytes. "Constitutive mutualism" is the relatively faithful association, usually with grasses, of endophytes that infect host ovules and are propagated in host seed; substantial fungal biomass with probable high metabolic cost develops throughout the aerial parts of the host plant. "Inducible mutualist" endophytes are not involved with host seed and disseminate independently through air or in water. Infecting only vegetative parts of the host and remaining metabolically inactive for long periods with relatively little fungal biomass, inducible mutualists grow rapidly and produce toxins against herbivores when damaged host tissues provide new sites for infection. I surmise that endophytes may be as common among plants as are mycorrhyzae.