Endophytic fungal community structure in olive orchards with high and low incidence of olive anthracnose.

Fungal endophytes have been increasingly recognized to promote host plant protection to pathogens, but knowledge of the multiple effects that they could have in crop diseases is still scarce. This work attempts to understand the role of fungal endophytes in crop diseases, specifically in reducing disease development and interfering on lifestyle transition of the pathogen. To accomplish this, the endophytic fungal community of reproductive organs of olive tree from two orchards showing different levels of anthracnose incidence, a major disease of olive fruits, was characterized and compared between them.

Screening the Olive Tree Phyllosphere: Search and Find Potential Antagonists Against pv. .

Olive knot (OK) is a widespread bacterial disease, caused by pv. (), which currently has not effective control methods. The use of naturally occurring microbial antagonists, such as bacteria, as biocontrol agents could be a strategy to manage this disease.

Impact of plant genotype and plant habitat in shaping bacterial pathobiome: a comparative study in olive tree.

Plant-inhabiting microorganisms interact directly with each other affecting disease progression. However, the role of host plant and plant habitat in shaping pathobiome composition and their implication for host susceptibility/resistance to a particular disease are currently unknown. For the elucidation of these questions, both epiphytic and endophytic bacterial communities, present in asymptomatic and symptomatic twigs from olive cultivars displaying different susceptibilities to olive knot (OK) disease, were investigated using culturing methods.

Epiphytic and Endophytic Bacteria on Olive Tree Phyllosphere: Exploring Tissue and Cultivar Effect.

Variation on bacterial communities living in the phyllosphere as epiphytes and endophytes has been attributed to plant host effects. However, there is contradictory or inconclusive evidence regarding the effect of plant genetics (below the species' level) and of plant tissue type on phyllosphere bacterial community assembly, in particular when epiphytes and endophytes are considered simultaneously. Here, both surface and internal bacterial communities of two olive (Olea europaea) cultivars were evaluated in twigs and leaves by molecular identification of cultivable isolates, with an attempt to answer these questions.

Large and variable genome size unrelated to serpentine adaptation but supportive of cryptic sexuality in Cenococcum geophilum.

Estimations of genome size and its variation can provide valuable information regarding the genetic diversity of organisms and their adaptation potential to heterogeneous environments. We used flow cytometry to characterize the variation in genome size among 40 isolates of Cenococcum geophilum, an ectomycorrhizal fungus with a wide ecological and geographical distribution, obtained from two serpentine and two non-serpentine sites in Portugal. Besides determining the genome size and its intraspecies variation, we wanted to assess whether a relationship exists between genome size and the edaphic background of the C.