Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #309320
Title: A novel method to scale up fungal endophyte isolations

Author
item GREENFIELD, MELINDA - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item PAREJA, REYNALDO - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item ORTIZ-LONDONO, VIVIANA - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item GOMEZ-JIMENEZ, MARIA - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item Vega, Fernando
item PARSA, SOROUSH - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Submitted to: Biocontrol Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2015
Publication Date: 6/3/2015
Citation: Greenfield, M., Pareja, R., Ortiz-Londono, V., Gomez-Jimenez, M.I., Vega, F.E., Parsa, S. 2015. A novel method to scale up fungal endophyte isolations. Biocontrol Science and Technology. 25:1208-1212.

Interpretive Summary: Fungi that occur inside asymptomatic plant tissues are known as fungal endophytes. A major constraint in the sampling of fungal endophytes is the processing time required to surface sterilize the plant samples from which endophytes will grow. In this paper we report on a novel method that can be used to separately and simultaneously surface-sterilize up to 24 different plant samples. This method greatly increases the volume of data that can be collected in a given period of time. This information will be of use to mycologists, entomologists, and ecologists involved in endophyte research.

Technical Abstract: Estimations of species diversity are influenced by sampling intensity which in turn is influenced by methodology. For fungal endophyte diversity studies, the methodology includes surface-sterilization prior to isolation of endophytes. Surface-sterilization is an essential component of fungal endophyte research but the time required to process samples can become a limiting factor on the number of samples processed in a given period of time. To improve the efficiency of surface-sterilization, a novel method was designed and implemented successfully. This method allows for the bulk surface-sterilization of multiple plant tissue samples simultaneously and separately, increasing the number of samples that can be processed daily, and consequently increasing the volume of data that can be collected in a given period of time when compared to previously used methods. Plant imprints can be used to confirm the effectiveness of this method.