Linked Life Data

18944185

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/18944185

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-10-23
pubmed:abstractText
Fungal endophytes that colonize forest trees are widespread, but they are less well known than endophytes infecting grasses. The few studies on endophytes in trees mainly concern the tropical areas and the northernmost latitudes, while similar investigations in the Mediterranean region have so far been scarce and incidental. Endophytes are studied mostly in economically important forests suffering from diseases, such as oak forests. One common endophyte that has received some study on oak is the mitosporic Discula quercina. This paper, after first addressing some basic problems on tree endophytes, examines the ecology of D. quercina in Mediterranean oak stands. D. quercina is usually viewed as a symptomless colonizer of healthy Quercus cerris, infecting new leaves early in the growing season, in an unstable equilibrium between transient mutualism/neutralism and latent pathogenesis. It is postulated here that climatic factors can change the endophytic nature of D. quercina, turning it into a weak pathogen or an opportunistic invader of senescing and indeed healthy trees. It is argued more generally that stochastic events can cause the lifestyle of an endophyte to switch from beneficial/neutral to pathogenic, transforming the tree-endophyte interaction, an interaction that depends in part on the matching genomes of the tree and endophyte, and on the environmental context.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
0031-949X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
98
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
380-6
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Fungal endophytes in Mediterranean oak forests: a lesson from Discula quercina.
pubmed:affiliation
Dipartimento di Biotecnologie agrarie, Sezione di Patologia vegetale, Universita di Firenze, Firenze, Italy. salvatore.moricca@unifi.it
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review