Fungal Endophytes of Plants: Friend or Foe?

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal endophytes, fungi that live inside of plants, interact with plants as beneficials, commensals, or pathogens. The roles of the endophytes may change as the plant matures or with changes in environmental conditions. Understanding the ecology and epidemiology of endophytes and characterizing the fungal plant interactions are essential. This Special Issue will cover a variety of topics on fungal endophytes including their plant interactions, their ecological roles, characterization of the biology of the endophytes, and transmission of the endophytes. In addition, this Special Issue may include toxins or other secondary metabolites produced by endophytes and the pathogenicity of the endophytes, as well as how fungal endophytes influence the microbiota of the host plant and the rhizosphere microbiota.

Research completed at the Guest Editor's laboratory: The Creamer laboratory studies the roles that fungal endophytes of poisonous plants such as locoweeds play in the toxicity of the plant. They are characterizing the Alternaria section Undifilum sp., Slafractonia leguminicola and the Chaetothyriales endophyte of Ipomoea, which produce the toxin swainsonine that is poisonous to grazing animals. The lab investigates the genetics of the fungi and toxic plants and the ecological roles of the fungi within their host plants. The lab also characterizes the toxin biosynthetic pathway in various swainsonine-producing fungi. Rebecca Creamer and her lab have published 33 papers related to fungal endophytes and their poisonous plant hosts. 

Prof. Dr. Rebecca Creamer
Guest Editor

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• fungal endophyte
• ecology
• transmission
• pathogenicity