FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES FOR IMPROVED CROP YIELDS AND PROTECTION FROM PESTS

• US 20160286821A1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas A&M University System
• Original Assignee: Texas A&M University System
• Inventors: SWORD, Gregory A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,813,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 63/30 Microbial fungi; Substances produced thereby or obtained therefrom

Abstract

The invention provides a synthetic combination of a crop and at least one fungal endophyte, wherein the crop is a host plant of the endophyte. Provided are also methods and compositions for producing such synthetic combinations. The endophyte reproduces and enhances the agronomic characteristics of the crop. Methods for inoculating the host plant with the endophyte, for propagating the host-endophyte combination, and for detecting the presence of the endophyte and of its metabolites within a host plant are also described.

Claims

1. A synthetic combination of a cotton seed or plant and a fungal endophyte comprising at least one endophyte from Table 1, wherein cotton is a host plant of the endophyte.

2. The synthetic combination of claim 1, comprising at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 endophytes.

3. A seed coating, comprising

a) a fungal endophyte comprising at least one endophyte from Table 1;

and

b) at least one coating material, wherein the fungal endophyte is in contact with the coating material.

4. The seed coating of claim 3, comprising at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 endophytes.

5. The seed coating of claim 3, wherein the coating material comprises alginic acid, carrageenan, dextrin, dextran, pelgel, polyethelene glycol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, methyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, gelatin, or combinations thereof.

6. The seed coating of claim 3, wherein the weight ratio between fungal endophyte and coating material is 1:

1-10, 1;

10-50, 1;

50-100, 1;

100-500, 1;

500-1000, or 1;

1000-5000.

7. The seed coating of claim 3, wherein the seed coating is a fluid.

8. The seed coating of claim 3, wherein the seed coating is a powder.

9. The seed coating of claim 3, wherein the fungal endophyte comprises fungal spores.

10. The seed coating of claim 3, comprising about 10², 10³, 10⁴, 10⁵, 10⁶, 10⁷, 10⁸, or 10⁹ colony forming units per gram or spores per gram.

11. A composition for foliar or soil application, comprising

a) at least one endophyte from Table 1;

and

b) at least one carrier, surfactant or diluent.

12. The composition of claim 11, comprising at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 endophytes.

13. The composition of claim 11, comprising about 10², 10³, 10⁴, 10⁵, 10⁶, 10⁷, 10⁸, or 10⁹ colony forming units per gram or spores per gram.

14. The composition of claim 11, wherein the composition comprises water, a detergent, Triton X, insecticides, fungicides, or combinations thereof.

15. A seed composition comprising a plant seed and the seed coating of claim 11.

16. The seed composition of claim 15, wherein the plant seed comprises a cotton seed.

17. The seed composition of claim 15, wherein the plant seed comprise a seed of an agronomically elite plant.

18. The seed composition of claim 15, wherein the plant seed comprises a dicot plant seed.

19. The seed composition of claim 15, wherein the plant seed comprises a monocot plant seed.

20. The seed composition of claim 15, wherein the seed composition is resistant to a pest comprising an insect and/or a nematode.

21. A method for preventing pest infestation or increased yield, comprising treating a plant, plant seed, or the rhizosphere of said plant or seed with the composition of claim 11.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising identifying said plant as in need of endophyte treatment.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the seed is suspected of needing pest treatment, and the pest comprises a nematode and/or insect.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the seed is suspected of needing pest treatment, and the pest comprises a root knot nematode, a aphid, a lygus bug, a stink bug, or combinations thereof.

25. A method for preventing pest infestation, comprising

a) obtaining a pest-resistant seed composition according to claim 15;

and

b) planting the pest-resistant seed composition.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising identifying a need of preventing pest infestation.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the pest comprises a nematode and/or a insect.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the pest comprises a root knot nematode, a aphid, a lygus bug, a stink bug, or combinations thereof.

29. A method for treating a pest infestation, comprising

a) identifying a plant suspected of being infected with a pest;

b) applying the composition of claim 11 to the plant, whereby an endophyte-treated plant is generated.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the pest comprises a nematode and/or an insect.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the pest comprises a root knot nematode, a aphid, a lygus bug, a stink bug, or combinations thereof.

59. The synthetic combination of claim 13, comprising at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 strains of endophytes.

32. A method of manufacturing pest-resistant seeds, comprising

a) providing an endophyte composition comprising at least one endophyte from Table 1;

b) providing seeds; and

c) combining the seeds with the endophyte composition, whereby pest-resistant seeds are generated.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the endophyte composition comprises at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 endophytes.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising sterilizing the seeds to remove microorganisms prior to combining the seeds with the endophyte composition.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the method increases the percentage of colonization with the endophyte of the plant developing from the seed.

36. A method of increasing a yield or a reduction of loss of a crop, comprising

a) providing an endophyte composition comprising at least one endophyte from Table 1;

and

b) applying the endophyte composition to a seed, plant or part thereof, whereby the yield of the crop increases.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the endophyte composition comprises at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 endophytes.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the crop is cotton, and the increase of yield is at least about 5%, 15%, 20%, or 25% relative to a crop to which no endophyte composition has been applied.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the increase of yield is about 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or 45% relative to a crop to which no endophyte composition has been applied.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the crop is cotton and the reduction of loss comprises reduced boll damage.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein the reduction of loss comprises reduction of loss due to insect infestation or drought and the loss is less than 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%, 5%, or 5% relative to a crop to which no endophyte composition has been applied.

42. A method for improving a trait in an agricultural plant, the method comprising:

a) contacting an agricultural seed of said plant with a formulation comprising purified filamentous, spore-forming, facultative fungal endophytes of at least one species, wherein the endophytes are capable of producing substances that are beneficial to plants or detrimental to pests or both, and wherein the endophytes are present in the formulation in an amount effective to modulate the colonization frequencies of the endophytes that are native to the agricultural plant grown from the seed compared to a reference seed that is planted in an agricultural environment, and to provide a benefit to the seeds or the agricultural plants grown from the seeds.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising packaging the contacted seeds in a container.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising growing a population of said agricultural plants, wherein the benefit is measured at the level of the population, as compared to a reference population of plants.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the endophytes that are native to the agricultural plant are of genus Alternaria.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein the benefit is an improved agronomic property selected from the group consisting of increased biomass, increased tillering, increased root mass, increased flowering, increased yield, increased water use efficiency, reduction of yield loss, altered plant height, decreased time to emergence, increased seedling height, increased root length, increased chlorophyll levels, retention of developing flowers, retention of developing fruits, altered phytohormone levels, and enhanced resistance to environmental stress relative to a reference plant.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the benefit to agricultural plants derived from the seed is increased yield in a population of said plants by about 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or 45% relative to a reference population of plants.

48. The synthetic combination of claim 46, wherein the benefit to agricultural plants derived from the seed is a reduction of yield loss in a population of said plants by more than 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%, 5%, or 1% relative to a reference population of plants.

49. The method of claim 46, wherein the environmental stress is selected from the group consisting of drought stress, cold stress, heat stress, nutrient deficiency, salt toxicity, aluminum toxicity, grazing by herbivores, insect infestation, nematode infection, and fungal infection, bacterial infection and viral infection.

50. The method of claim 42, wherein the endophyte is present in the synthetic combination in an amount effective to obtain at least 50% colonization of the leaves, stems or roots of an agricultural plant grown from the seed.

51. The method of claim 42, wherein the pest comprises a nematode and/or an insect.

52. The method of claim 42, wherein the pest comprises a root knot nematode, a aphid, a lygus bug, a stink bug, or combinations thereof.

53. The method of claim 42, wherein the synthetic combination comprises at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 facultative fungal endophytes.

54. A synthetic combination of an agricultural plant seed and a composition comprising purified filamentous, spore-forming facultative fungal endophytes of at least one species, wherein the endophytes are capable of producing substances that are beneficial to plants or detrimental to pests or both, and wherein the facultative fungal endophytes are present in the synthetic combination in an amount effective to modulate the colonization frequencies of endophytes that are native to the agricultural plant grown from the seed compared to a reference seed that is planted in an agricultural environment, and to provide a benefit to the seeds or the agricultural plants grown from the seeds.

55. The synthetic combination of claim 54, wherein the facultative fungal endophytes are present in the synthetic combination in an amount effective to modulate the colonization frequencies of endophytes of genus Alternaria that are native to the agricultural plant grown from the seed compared to a reference seed that is planted in an agricultural environment.

56. The synthetic combination of claim 54, wherein the benefit is an improved agronomic property selected from the group consisting of increased biomass, increased tillering, increased root mass, increased flowering, increased yield, increased water use efficiency, reduction of yield loss, altered plant height, decreased time to emergence, increased seedling height, increased root length, increased chlorophyll levels, retention of developing flowers, retention of developing fruits, altered phytohormone levels, and enhanced resistance to environmental stress relative to a reference plant.

57. The synthetic combination of claim 54, wherein the environmental stress is selected from the group consisting of drought stress, cold stress, heat stress, nutrient deficiency, salt toxicity, aluminum toxicity, grazing by herbivores, insect infestation, nematode infection, and fungal infection, bacterial infection and viral infection.

58. The synthetic combination of claim 54, wherein the endophyte is present in the synthetic combination in an amount effective to obtain at least 50% colonization of the leaves, stems or roots of an agricultural plant grown from the seed.

60. The synthetic combination of claim 56, wherein the benefit to agricultural plants derived from the seed is increased yield in a population of said plants by about 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or 45% relative to a reference population of plants.

61. The synthetic combination of claim 56, wherein the benefit to agricultural plants derived from the seed is a reduction of yield loss in a population of said plants by more than 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%, 5%, or 1% relative to a reference population of plants.