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Piriformospora indica pp 251–261Cite as

A Mixed Bag: The Plant Growth-Promoting Sebacina vermifera Impairs Defense Mechanisms Against Herbivores

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Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 33))

Abstract

Belowground interactions of plants with beneficial plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM) enhance plant growth and fitness and can alter a plant’s ability to cope with its environment. By increasing plant nutritional uptake, PGPM may indirectly enhance a plant’s ability to withstand harsh conditions. However, very often the mode of action of PGPM involves interference with a plant’s hormonal balance, which may have either positive or negative effects on a plant’s interactions with biotic and abiotic stressors. Here we discuss the possibility that the outcome of associating with the genetically similar Sebacina vermifera and Piriformospora indica fungi involves increases in a plant’s susceptibility to herbivores. Defense mechanisms against herbivores are mainly regulated by jasmonic acid and its fine-tuned cross talk with other phytohormones. Thus, the ability of the Sebacinales fungi to produce IAA and shut down defenses against microorganisms by interfering with ethylene synthesis can result in promoting growth effects but at a cost to defense-related signaling pathways. That growth promotion comes at the expense of resistance to herbivore attack calls into question the mutualistic nature of the interaction with these fungi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

    Oz Barazani

  2. Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Ian Thomas Baldwin

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  1. Oz Barazani
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  2. Ian Thomas Baldwin
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Correspondence to Ian Thomas Baldwin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, E-3 Block, Sector 125, Noida, 201303, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ajit Varma

  2. , FB Biology, Systematic Botany & Mycology, Philipps University of Marburg, Karl von Frisch Str. 8, Marburg, 35032, Germany

    Gerhard Kost

  3. Inst. Allgemeine Botanik, LS Pflanzenphysiologie, Univ. Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, Jena, 07743, Thüringen, Germany

    Ralf Oelmüller

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Barazani, O., Baldwin, I.T. (2013). A Mixed Bag: The Plant Growth-Promoting Sebacina vermifera Impairs Defense Mechanisms Against Herbivores. In: Varma, A., Kost, G., Oelmüller, R. (eds) Piriformospora indica. Soil Biology, vol 33. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33802-1_15

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