Fungal
endophyte-grass relationships vary from mutualism to
parasitism. Many asexually reproducing endophytes are considered defensive mutualists
by providing their host protection from herbivores through the production of
alkaloids. In contrast, the sexually
reproducing endophyte Epichloë glyceriae is considered parasitic
because it sterilizes its host Glyceria striata. Chemical
defenses have generally been found to be negligible in sexual endophytes. In this
study, G. striata
infected with E. glyceriae was tested for constitutive and
inducible defense against herbivory. Individuals were damaged by fall armyworm caterpillars,
mechanical cutting, or left undamaged.
An aphid bioassay was administered to test the plant's toxicity to
herbivores. In addition, loline concentration was quantified using gas chromatography
and mass spectrometry and loline RNA expression quantified
using real-time RT-PCR. The mechanically
cut treatment supported significantly fewer live aphids compared to the control
treatment (F2,63 = 4.45, p < 0.02). The
mechanically cut treatment had a greater loline
alkaloid concentration (Kruskal-Wallis F = 12.577; p
< 0.005) and loline RNA expression at 3 days post
damage (F2,13 = 5.362, p < 0.05) than the control treatment. The herbivore-damaged treatment had low
levels of damage and intermediate levels of loline
concentrations and loline RNA expression. Our study is the first to demonstrate sexual endophytes can produce alkaloid defense compounds in
quantities large enough to reduce aphid performance and that this production is
wound-inducible. These results suggest wound-induced
responses may be ancestral within the Epichloë clade.