Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar 31;10(3):182-190.
doi: 10.1080/21501203.2019.1600063. eCollection 2019.

Multifunctional aspects of Piriformospora indica in plant endosymbiosis

Jisha S  1 , Sabu Kk  1 , Manjula S  2
Affiliations
Review

Multifunctional aspects of Piriformospora indica in plant endosymbiosis

Jisha S et al. Mycology. .

Erratum in

  • Correction.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Mycology. 2020 Aug 26;12(3):230. doi: 10.1080/21501203.2020.1808288. eCollection 2021. Mycology. 2020. PMID: 34552813 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Piriformospora indica (Hymenomycetes, Basidiomycota) is an endophytic fungus that colonises plant roots, and was originally isolated from Rajasthan desert. It is comparable to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in terms of plant growth promotional effects. P. indica has been used as an ideal example to analyse the mechanisms of mutualistic symbiosis. Major benefit of P. indica over AM fungi is that it is axenically cultivable in different synthetic and complex media. A preliminary attempt was made to scrutinise the role of P. indica co-cultivation on seedling vigour of common vegetables like Cucumis sativus L., Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench, Solanum melongena L. and Capsicum annuum L. The positive effect of P. indica co-culture on seedling performance was compared to the effects of growth hormones like indole acetic acid and benzyl amino purine when supplemented to the MS medium at a concentration of 0.1 mg ml-1. An exogenous supply of auxin resulted in enhanced production of roots and cytokinin supplement favoured shoot production, whereas P. indica co-culture favoured simultaneous production of shoot and root over the control. P. indica colonisation inside the roots of C. sativus L. was also successfully established. These preliminary results indicate the prospective role of P. indica in vegetable farming through its favourable effect on plant growth.

Keywords: Cucumis sativus; Piriformospora indica; endosymbiosis; phytohormones.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Comparative analysis of phenotypic traits in control and P. indica co-cultured plants. Phenotypic traits like shoot number, shoot length, root number and root lengths of control and P. indica co-cultured Cucumis sativus L., Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench, Solanum melongena L. and Capsicum annuum L. were measured after a period of 1 month. *** indicates P < 0.001.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Maintenance of P. indica in potato dextrose containing media. (a,c) – P. indica maintained in PDA and (b) – P. indica maintained in PDB.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Effect of P. indica co-cultivation in the seeds of different vegetables. Vegetables include Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench (panel 1); Solanum melongena L. (panel 2) and Capsicum annuum L. (panel 3). (a) – control seeds; (b) – P. indica co-cultured seeds. Number of replications (n) = 3.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Effect of P. indica co-cultivation in Cucumis sativus. L. Panel 1: (a) – control seeds (in MS–PDA media in the ratio 1:1); (b) – seeds in cytokinin, BAP (0.1 mg l-1) containing medium; (c) – seeds in auxin, IAA (0.1 mg l-1) containing medium and (d) – seeds in P. indica co-cultured medium. Number of replications (n) = 3. Panel 2: (a) – Control C. sativus (in MS–PDA media in the ratio 1:1); (b) – C. sativus in cytokinin, BAP (0.1 mg l-1) containing medium; (c) – C. sativus in auxin, IAA (0.1 mg l-1) containing medium and (d) – C. sativus in P. indica co-cultured medium after a period of 2 weeks. Panel 3: (a) – control C. sativus (in MS–PDA media in the ratio 1:1) and (d) – C. sativus in P. indica co-cultured medium after a period of 2 weeks.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Comparative analysis of seed germination percentage in different plants. Seed germination percentage was analysed in Cucumis sativus L., Solanum melongena L., Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench and Capsicum annuum L. after a period of (a) 1 week and (b) 2 weeks. *** indicates P < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barazani O, Benderoth M, Groten K, Kuhlemeier N, Baldwin IT.. 2005. Piriformospora indica and Sebacina vermifera increase growth performance at the expense of herbivore resistance in Nicotiana attenuate. Oecologia. 146:234–243. - PubMed
    1. Blechert O, Kost G, Hassel A, Rexer RH, Varma A.. 1999. First remarks on the symbiotic interactions between Piriformospora indica and terrestrial orchid In: Varma A, Hook B, editors. Mycorrhizae. 2nd ed. Germany: Springer; p. 683–688.
    1. Campbell NA, Reece JB, Urry LA, Cain ML, Wasserman SA, Minorsky PV, Jackson RB. 2008. Biology. 8th San Francisco:Pearson/Benjamin Cummings; pp. 827–830.
    1. Contreras-Cornejo HA, Macias-Rodriguez L, Corte-Penagos C, Lopez-Bucio J. 2009. Trichoderma virens, a plant beneficial fungus, enhances biomass production and promotes lateral root growth through an auxin-dependent mechanism in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 149:1579–1592. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Giovannetti M, Mosse B. 1980. An evaluation of techniques for measuring vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal infection in roots. New Phytol. 84:489–500.

LinkOut - more resources