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This project will generate the first multi-host, multi-continent database to understand the diversity and specificity of a plant-endophyte symbiosis. This research will help address outstanding and fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions concerning the origin and diversification of fungal endophyte species, specifically addressing how adaptations to different plant hosts may lead to the speciation of endophytes.

Successful European tour including the Evolution Conference in Montpellier followed by an impromptu fieldwork spanning Spain, France, and Italy for pine species. Visited the Alps for the elusive P. cembra as well as the original sites where Mougeot collected L. pinastri in the Pays de Bitches. That means more culturing and more sequencing!

Mycologists throw the best parties! Enjoyed a great conference in San Juan for the International Mycological Congress. Presented talk and posters by Jake Sarver and former postdoc Rodolfo Salas-Lizana.

We propose a conceptual framework that outlines four ‘dimensions’ of host specificity that account for the geographic, phylogenetic or sampling scale under consideration. These ‘dimensions’ quantify FFE abundance and evenness (structural specificity), interaction strength (network specificity), evolutionary relationships (phylogenetic specificity) and the spatial or temporal consistency of the interaction (beta-specificity).

We are happy to announce the public release of the JGI annotation and portal for Lophodermium nitens PLMe3-1-3 v1.0. Annotations of the assembly are now publicly visible. This particular isolate was collected by Rodolfo Salas-Lizana in Mendocino, California, from a sugar pine needle (Pinus lambertiana). This was way way back in fall of 2014. Genome was submitted to JGI April 2016. Lophodermium nitens is thought to be found throughout North America, mainly associating with soft pine (Strobus) needles.

The phylogenetic and population genetic structure of symbiotic microorganisms may correlate with important ecological traits that can be difficult to directly measure, such as host preferences or dispersal rates.

Most class 3 fungal endophytes (sensu Rodriguez et al. 2009) belong to the Ascomycota; members of Basidiomycota are much more infrequently isolated. Endophytic Basidiomycota may be more common in foliage than currently indicated, but biases in identification methods (e.g., primer bias, culturing vs. environmental sequencing) may mask their true diversity and abundance as endophytes.

The Mechanical Engineering Capstone Seniors have successfully completed a flying drone that can cut and retrieve plant stems! This will help us sample and study plants growing in challenging terrains or leaves from the top of a redwood tree. The team benefited from a second year challenge and we are currently testing and improving safety and accuracy.

A confidence interval analysis of sampling effort, sequencing depth, and taxonomic resolution of fungal community ecology in the era of high-throughput sequencing.

In the proposed work, we will use newly designed fluorescence in situ hybridization probes coupled with mRNA in situ hybridization probes of key lignocellulose degrading enzymes to localize and characterize the enzymatic activity in situ by a model fungal endophyte - Lophodermium nitens - during three stages of fruiting body development in senescing pine needles.