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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BestPass (Boosting plant-Endophyte STability, compatibility and Performance Across ScaleS)

Teaser

Summary

The agricultural production systems of the planet are facing many challenges and must adopt more dynamic, efficient and sustainable production methods to increase food and fodder production to feed a growing population with fewer resources (FAO). Firstly, the world population is predicted to reach roughly 10 billion by 2050 (http://esa. un.org/wpp/). Secondly, urbanisation of populations reduces available agricultural land areas both by encroachment and by increasing pollution and water demand in adjacent areas. Thirdly, economic growth and social development is increasing demand for meat-based diets and therefore fodder rather than food crops whilst simultaneously elevating greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is a challenge for sustainable plant disease control. In particular, emerging pathogens (and pests) find favourable conditions in new regions whilst the increased unpredictability of the weather is leading to an increase in, and unpredictability of, abiotic stresses, such as drought, heat and cold, thereby altering risk patterns for specific diseases. In turn, the latter leads to the need to understand the subtle interactions between these abiotic stress factors, the hormones regulating the ability of the plant to adapt to abiotic stress and microorganisms exhibiting different lifestyles. These range from mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia over beneficial endophytes to harmful pathogens, and, indeed, there are examples where the same microbe can act as a benign if not beneficial endophyte under some conditions and as a disease-inducing pathogen under others. While plant diseases can devastate crops, they can often be controlled by cultural practice, disease resistance, biological control and the use of pesticides. BestPass is a major initiative which aims to deliver new insights into the nature of the relationships between plants and associated microorganisms â€“ both beneficial and pathogenic, both by biological control and stimulation of host growth. The world needs to increase the crop yield while reducing pesticides and use of inorganic fertilisers to meet the challenges of the world population growth and climate change. Plant endophytic microorganisms can improve plant yield and enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stress as well as to pathogens under experimental conditions, but these effects are often not sufficiently stable for practical application. The knowledge obtained from studying the impact of endophytes on plant health is expected to benefit the sustainable development of agriculture over coming decades. Examples of new knowledge will come from several studies in the project and involve model organisms such as Piriformospora (syn.: Serendipita) indica, arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi and novel bacterial and fungal endophytes obtained in the present studies, as well as three way interactions involving beneficial fungi, bacteria and the host plant. The availability of genome sequences of the interacting partners is an important prerequisite for gaining knowledge about these three way interactions and about their use in sustainable plant production systems which meet the challenges of climate change and modern societies.

Work performed

The BestPass project has made stable progress in its activities with contributions from the entire consortium. To summarize some of the activities, three project meetings have been held, the project website was launched on 16 October 2015, the Advisory Board was established at the end of 2015, the Early Stage Researchers (ESR) were recruited and enrolled, ESRs have presented posters at conferences, 28 deliverables have been submitted, and an online communication platform for internal communication has been established.
The project participants have met four times since September 2015: In Copenhagen for the start-up seminar (23-24th September 2015), at the Kick-off meeting in Schnega, Germany (9-10th May 2016), the 1st annual meeting in Amsterdam 17-18th November 2016 and for the 2nd annual meeting in Berlin 13-15th September 2017. Training workshops have been held for the ESRs in conjunction with the annual meetings.
In addition to the 12 beneficiaries, 8 Partner Organisations and 5 mentors contribute to the quality of the career development opportunities for the ESRs in academic and non-academic sectors. The secondments also play a vital role as they provide additional competences to the project, and thus the scientific and personal career development of the ESRs.
Some of the achieved results during the 1st period, which will be exploited either as a publication or as implementation of plant breeding programs, are: 1. Phytohormones impact on fungal endophyte communities in tomato roots, 2. Changes in plant hormone levels upon colonization of tomato by endophytic and/or pathogenic strains of F. oxysporum, 3. Identification of P-solubilising bacteria and interaction with an AM fungus, 4. Characterization of grass populations with improved endophyte compatibility, and 5 detection and characterization of genotypic variation in EpichloÃ« spp. using microsatellite markers.

Final results

The project provides excellent training for the Early Stage Researchers in the areas of genomics, bioinformatics, plant physiology, industrial production of microbial inoculants/products and endophyte performance in which all ESRs gain international experience by visiting different institutions. This is something that will benefit the ESRs career possibilities as they are presented with many options and contacts to advance in their careers.
The Action has so far had great success in stimulating in-depth science that will pave not only the future career of the ESRs, albeit also, the way to new discoveries that can be utilized by industrial parties as well as the embedding and other institutions for future research. Thus, the project will provide the opportunity to develop new collaborations between universities and industries on plant-endophyte interactions. Little was known in advance of the study about the microbes or molecules involved in the biological interactions under study. Overall, the first phase of the project has thus concerned collecting material that will be studied during the remainder of the project, and it is first now that the project is beginning to yield new knowledge which is exploitable and/or publishable. So far, the project is on track to provide materials and techniques for improving crop plant productivity.
BestPass is indeed creating an ideal environment to establish new contacts which will lead to spin-off collaborations. Such collaborations will further develop the European Research Area by integrating research activities of institutions among partner countries. It will, moreover, form a new generation of scientists with deep knowledge in basic research, but also with the awareness of the challenge to bring this knowledge to practical applications. If problems of modern plant production systems will not be solved in frame of BestPass, the ESRs will have the best qualification to do so in future.