Detection and characterisation of novel fungal endophyte genotypic variation in cultivars of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

Abstract

Alkaloids produced by the perennial ryegrass pasture and turf grass endophyte Neotyphodium lolii confer both beneficial (insect feeding deterrence) and deleterious (mammalian herbivore toxicoses) effects. Novel endophyte strains with altered and desirable in planta metabolic profiles have been introduced into cultivars by inoculation. The potentially severe effects of contamination with standard toxic endophytes provide an important incentive for quality control during varietal development. Genotyping with expressed sequence tag (EST)-derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in order to monitor endophyte content was evaluated in this study. The NEA2 endophyte, described as producing low ..