Think of fungi in agriculture, and you might think first of the crop diseases they cause. But since ancient times, farmers have been using the interactions among fungi and crops to their advantage, often unknowingly. A three-year North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative project exploring these interactions has helped pave the way to better solutions for drought, plant diseases and other stressors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the FunCrops project, NC State University researchers from six departments in three colleges set out to learn more about the thousands of beneficial fungi found on the leaves of four important crops: corn, soybean, wheat, and switchgrass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The groundwork they laid could have important implications for making crops more resilient, either by innovating new agricultural products, by developing new farming practices or through breeding or genetic engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christine Hawkes<\/a>, a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology<\/a> (PMB) and member of the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative faculty, headed the interdisciplinary FunCrops team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She sees the plant mycobiome \u2013 the community of fungi living on and in plants\u2019 roots, leaves and stems \u2013 as the next agricultural science frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very, very clear that whether a plant tolerates drought or resists pathogens very much depends on the microbiome that inhabits it,\u201d Hawkes said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of work on fungal symbiosis in plants, but not so much on crops \u2014 this project gave us the opportunity to better understand their role in agroecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team drew on interdisciplinary expertise not only in biology, but also to develop new research tools and new methods for handling massive amounts of data collected about plant and fungal molecular processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professors Ross Sozzani, of PMB, and Cranos Williams, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and PMB, guided the data efforts, while Professor Mike Kudenov<\/a>, of ECE, developed a tool to use ultraviolet C light to quickly detect the presence of the fungal disease southern leaf blight in corn fields. \u201cIdeally you’d want to be able to measure the fungus before it creates visible symptoms, but this is really a first step towards that or initial step towards that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associate Professor Kevin Garcia<\/a> in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences<\/a> (CSS) developed molecular tools to genetically manipulate two species of leaf endophytic fungi from switchgrass, a biofuel crop. It was the first time anyone had transformed any fungus of the Nigrospora genus, opening the door to the manipulation of genes involved in the fungi\u2019s pathogenic, beneficial or neutral interactions with plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Team members also depended on Ryan Heiniger<\/a>, director of CSS\u2019 Official Variety Testing Program, to help convey what they knew and were learning about fungi to farmers across the state. He conducted in-person trainings for growers, crop consultants and others at over 30 field days, winter meetings and other events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the unknowns surrounding fungal communities in crops, many companies offer products that tout beneficial effects derived from fungi \u2013 especially root-dwelling fungi called mycorrhizae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some fungal products are used to enhance a plant\u2019s ability to take in nutrients from the soil, and others are used to inoculate plants against disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is evidence that some of these products work, but a lot of them do not,\u201d Hawkes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can be challenging to find fungi that are going to be consistently beneficial across complex field environments where you have lots of other things going on.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn fact there are really good studies showing there\u2019s quite a bit mycorrhizal inoculum being used around the world that has zero effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt can be challenging to find fungi that are going to be consistently beneficial across complex field environments where you have lots of other things going on \u2014 diverse microbes, diverse genes in the plants, diverse environmental conditions and different kinds of stresses, et cetera,\u201d she added. The FunCrops project used a genes-to-ecosystem approach to attempt to improve on the rate of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digging into fungal biology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To use beneficial fungi more effectively, farmers need solutions based on science. To help spur such solutions, Hawkes and her students studied fungi in the lab and in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then-postdoctoral researcher Briana Whitaker discovered that the diversity of fungi living on crop leaves was higher in fields that were surrounded by natural vegetation than in fields beside other agricultural crops. Hawkes said that the findings suggest that landscape management could be a key consideration when it comes to treating crops with microbial products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ph.D. student Xavious Allen took a molecular-level approach, studying 10 fungal endophytes isolated from wheat and switchgrass. Endophytes are microorganisms that have beneficial or neutral effects on plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen compared wheat inoculated with endophytes to wheat inoculated with the pathogen that causes Stagonospora leaf and glume blotch. Parastagonospora nodorum<\/em> is considered one of the most significant wheat pathogens in the United States, causing estimated losses of 89,000 metric tons a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have molecular evidence to suggest that we should be able to improve wheat disease outcomes (but) it would require a bit more testing to confirm.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Allen was then able to identify wheat genes that appear to be stimulated by the fungal endophytes to make the plant more resistant or more susceptible to the pathogen. The findings suggest that through the addition of microbes, plant breeding or genetic engineering, those genes might be manipulated to make the wheat more resistant to the diseases caused by P. nodorum.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have molecular evidence to suggest that we should be able to improve wheat disease outcomes,\u201d he said. While excited about the results, Allen said he wanted to be careful not to overstate the implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe often find in a lot of our work what fungi do in cultures in a Petri dish is not what they do in a plant, so it would require a bit more testing to confirm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hawkes agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FunCrops allowed us to get a really good handle on the range of both beneficial and detrimental fungi living in several crop species.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
FunCrops, funded by a university program called the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program for Plant Sciences Initiative, or GRIP4PSI, \u201cstimulated a lot of exciting science and interdisciplinary collaborations. It was really boundary-crossing science,\u201d Hawkes said. \u201cIt allowed us to get a really good handle on the range of both beneficial and detrimental fungi living in several crop species, what drives their distributions and how they interact with pathogens and drought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she and her colleagues want to continue building on those discoveries. \u201cWith\u00a0new research proposals we want to take what we\u2019ve learned and work towards both improved understanding of mechanisms and their translation, by integrating across ecosystem ecology, biochemistry, plant genetics and breeding.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
Think of fungi in agriculture, and you might think first of the crop diseases they cause. But since ancient times, farmers have been using the interactions among fungi and crops to their advantage, often unknowingly. A three-year North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative project exploring these interactions has helped pave the way to better solutions for drought, plant diseases and other stressors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the FunCrops project, NC State University researchers from six departments in three colleges set out to learn more about the thousands of beneficial fungi found on the leaves of four important crops: corn, soybean, wheat, and switchgrass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The groundwork they laid could have important implications for making crops more resilient, either by innovating new agricultural products, by developing new farming practices or through breeding or genetic engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christine Hawkes<\/a>, a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology<\/a> (PMB) and member of the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative faculty, headed the interdisciplinary FunCrops team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christine Hawkes led the FunCrops project, which involved six departments in three NC State colleges.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She sees the plant mycobiome \u2013 the community of fungi living on and in plants\u2019 roots, leaves and stems \u2013 as the next agricultural science frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very, very clear that whether a plant tolerates drought or resists pathogens very much depends on the microbiome that inhabits it,\u201d Hawkes said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of work on fungal symbiosis in plants, but not so much on crops \u2014 this project gave us the opportunity to better understand their role in agroecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A diverse team tackling diverse challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The team drew on interdisciplinary expertise not only in biology, but also to develop new research tools and new methods for handling massive amounts of data collected about plant and fungal molecular processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professors Ross Sozzani, of PMB, and Cranos Williams, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and PMB, guided the data efforts, while Professor Mike Kudenov<\/a>, of ECE, developed a tool to use ultraviolet C light to quickly detect the presence of the fungal disease southern leaf blight in corn fields. \u201cIdeally you'd want to be able to measure the fungus before it creates visible symptoms, but this is really a first step towards that or initial step towards that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associate Professor Kevin Garcia<\/a> in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences<\/a> (CSS) developed molecular tools to genetically manipulate two species of leaf endophytic fungi from switchgrass, a biofuel crop. It was the first time anyone had transformed any fungus of the Nigrospora genus, opening the door to the manipulation of genes involved in the fungi\u2019s pathogenic, beneficial or neutral interactions with plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Team members also depended on Ryan Heiniger<\/a>, director of CSS\u2019 Official Variety Testing Program, to help convey what they knew and were learning about fungi to farmers across the state. He conducted in-person trainings for growers, crop consultants and others at over 30 field days, winter meetings and other events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end goal: new ways to use fungi to enhance crops<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Despite the unknowns surrounding fungal communities in crops, many companies offer products that tout beneficial effects derived from fungi \u2013 especially root-dwelling fungi called mycorrhizae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some fungal products are used to enhance a plant\u2019s ability to take in nutrients from the soil, and others are used to inoculate plants against disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is evidence that some of these products work, but a lot of them do not,\u201d Hawkes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can be challenging to find fungi that are going to be consistently beneficial across complex field environments where you have lots of other things going on.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn fact there are really good studies showing there\u2019s quite a bit mycorrhizal inoculum being used around the world that has zero effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt can be challenging to find fungi that are going to be consistently beneficial across complex field environments where you have lots of other things going on \u2014 diverse microbes, diverse genes in the plants, diverse environmental conditions and different kinds of stresses, et cetera,\u201d she added. The FunCrops project used a genes-to-ecosystem approach to attempt to improve on the rate of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digging into fungal biology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To use beneficial fungi more effectively, farmers need solutions based on science. To help spur such solutions, Hawkes and her students studied fungi in the lab and in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then-postdoctoral researcher Briana Whitaker discovered that the diversity of fungi living on crop leaves was higher in fields that were surrounded by natural vegetation than in fields beside other agricultural crops. Hawkes said that the findings suggest that landscape management could be a key consideration when it comes to treating crops with microbial products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ph.D. student Xavious Allen took a molecular-level approach, studying 10 fungal endophytes isolated from wheat and switchgrass. Endophytes are microorganisms that have beneficial or neutral effects on plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen compared wheat inoculated with endophytes to wheat inoculated with the pathogen that causes Stagonospora leaf and glume blotch. Parastagonospora nodorum<\/em> is considered one of the most significant wheat pathogens in the United States, causing estimated losses of 89,000 metric tons a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have molecular evidence to suggest that we should be able to improve wheat disease outcomes (but) it would require a bit more testing to confirm.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Allen was then able to identify wheat genes that appear to be stimulated by the fungal endophytes to make the plant more resistant or more susceptible to the pathogen. The findings suggest that through the addition of microbes, plant breeding or genetic engineering, those genes might be manipulated to make the wheat more resistant to the diseases caused by P. nodorum.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have molecular evidence to suggest that we should be able to improve wheat disease outcomes,\u201d he said. While excited about the results, Allen said he wanted to be careful not to overstate the implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe often find in a lot of our work what fungi do in cultures in a Petri dish is not what they do in a plant, so it would require a bit more testing to confirm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hawkes agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FunCrops allowed us to get a really good handle on the range of both beneficial and detrimental fungi living in several crop species.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
FunCrops, funded by a university program called the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program for Plant Sciences Initiative, or GRIP4PSI, \u201cstimulated a lot of exciting science and interdisciplinary collaborations. It was really boundary-crossing science,\u201d Hawkes said. \u201cIt allowed us to get a really good handle on the range of both beneficial and detrimental fungi living in several crop species, what drives their distributions and how they interact with pathogens and drought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she and her colleagues want to continue building on those discoveries. \u201cWith\u00a0new research proposals we want to take what we\u2019ve learned and work towards both improved understanding of mechanisms and their translation, by integrating across ecosystem ecology, biochemistry, plant genetics and breeding.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Think of fungi in agriculture, and you might think first of the crop diseases they cause. But since ancient times, farmers have been using the interactions among fungi and crops…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":77331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"caption\":\"Ph.D. student Xavious Allen identified wheat genes that appear to be stimulated by fungi to make the plant more resistant or more susceptible to an important disease-causing microbe.\",\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[108,110,177,114],"tags":[],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-77330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-nc-psi","category-newswire","category-research"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77334,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77330\/revisions\/77334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77330"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=77330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}