Plant Seeds Commonly Host Bacillus spp., Potential Antagonists of Phytopathogens.

In agriculture, horticulture and plantation forestry, Bacillus species are the most commonly applied antagonists and biopesticides, targeting plant pathogens and insect pests, respectively. Bacillus isolates are also used as bacterial plant biostimulants, or BPBs. Such useful isolates of Bacillus are typically sourced from soil.

Culturable Seed Microbiota of .

Plants harbor a diverse community of microbes, whose interactions with their host and each other can influence plant health and fitness. While microbiota in plant vegetative tissues has been extensively studied, less is known about members of the seed microbiota. We used culture-based surveys to identify bacteria and fungi found in the seeds of the model tree, , collected from different sites.

Leaf Endophytes of Act as Pathogens of Neighboring Plant Species.

The conventional definition of endophytes is that they do not cause disease, whereas pathogens do. Complicating this convention, however, is the poorly explored phenomenon that some microbes are endophytes in some plants but pathogens in others. Black cottonwood or poplar () and wheat () are common wild and crop plants, respectively, in the Pacific Northwest USA.

Isolation, Characterization, and Pathogenicity of Two Pathovars from Seeds.

is a ubiquitous plant pathogen, infecting both woody and herbaceous plants and resulting in devastating agricultural crop losses. Characterized by a remarkable specificity for plant hosts, pathovars utilize a number of virulence factors including the type III secretion system and effector proteins to elicit disease in a particular host species. Here, two strains were isolated from diseased seeds.

Effects of Antagonists on Mycotoxins of Seedborne spp. in Sweet Corn.

species coexist as toxigenic, systemic pathogens in sweet corn seed production in southwestern Idaho, USA. We hypothesized that fungal antagonists of seedborne would differentially alter production of mycotoxins directly and/or systemically. We challenged the complex by in vitro antagonism trials and in situ silk and seed inoculations with fungal antagonists.

Sydowia polyspora is both a Foliar Endophyte and a Preemergent Seed Pathogen in Pinus ponderosa.

Poor seedling performance and reduced seed emergence are often ascribed to known pathogens that cause low seedling recruitment and poor seed emergence in forest nurseries and regeneration plantings. On the other hand, foliar endophytes are often overlooked as a source of poor emergence or tree seedling disease. Here, we show that an endophytic fungus common to the foliar microbiome of Pinus ponderosa acts as a cryptic pathogen in delaying emergence.

Fungal endophytes: modifiers of plant disease.

Many recent studies have demonstrated that non-pathogenic fungi within plant microbiomes, i.e., endophytes ("endo" = within, "phyte" = plant), can significantly modify the expression of host plant disease.