scholarly journals Diversification of ergot alkaloids and heritable fungal symbionts in morning glories

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley T. Beaulieu ◽  
Daniel G. Panaccione ◽  
Quynh N. Quach ◽  
Katy L. Smoot ◽  
Keith Clay
Keyword(s):  
Seed Mass ◽  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Medical Applications ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Defensive Symbiosis ◽  
Microbe Interactions ◽  
Alkaloid Profiles ◽  
Morning Glories

AbstractHeritable microorganisms play critical roles in life cycles of many macro-organisms but their prevalence and functional roles are unknown for most plants. Bioactive ergot alkaloids produced by heritable Periglandula fungi occur in some morning glories (Convolvulaceae), similar to ergot alkaloids in grasses infected with related fungi. Ergot alkaloids have been of longstanding interest given their toxic effects, psychoactive properties, and medical applications. Here we show that ergot alkaloids are concentrated in four morning glory clades exhibiting differences in alkaloid profiles and are more prevalent in species with larger seeds than those with smaller seeds. Further, we found a phylogenetically-independent, positive correlation between seed mass and alkaloid concentrations in symbiotic species. Our findings suggest that heritable symbiosis has diversified among particular clades by vertical transmission through seeds combined with host speciation, and that ergot alkaloids are particularly beneficial to species with larger seeds. Our results are consistent with the defensive symbiosis hypothesis where bioactive ergot alkaloids from Periglandula symbionts protect seeds and seedlings from natural enemies, and provide a framework for exploring microbial chemistry in other plant-microbe interactions.

scholarly journals Diversification of ergot alkaloids and heritable fungal symbionts in morning glories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley T. Beaulieu ◽  
Daniel G. Panaccione ◽  
Quynh N. Quach ◽  
Richard E. Miller ◽  
Katy L. Smoot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Mass ◽  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Medical Applications ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Defensive Symbiosis ◽  
Microbe Interactions ◽  
Alkaloid Profiles ◽  
Morning Glories

Heritable microorganisms play critical roles in life cycles of many macro-organisms but their prevalence and functional roles are unknown for most plants. Bioactive ergot alkaloids produced by heritable Periglandula fungi occur in some morning glories (Convolvulaceae), similar to ergot alkaloids in grasses infected with related fungi. Ergot alkaloids have been of longstanding interest given their toxic effects, psychoactive properties, and medical applications. Here we show that ergot alkaloids are concentrated in four morning glory clades exhibiting differences in alkaloid profiles and are more prevalent in species with larger seeds than those with smaller seeds. Further, we found a phylogenetically-independent, positive correlation between seed mass and alkaloid concentrations in symbiotic species. Our findings suggest that heritable symbiosis has diversified among particular clades by vertical transmission through seeds combined with host speciation, and that ergot alkaloids are particularly beneficial to species with larger seeds. Our results are consistent with the defensive symbiosis hypothesis where bioactive ergot alkaloids from Periglandula symbionts protect seeds and seedlings from natural enemies, and provide a framework for exploring microbial chemistry in other plant-microbe interactions.

scholarly journals Mortality of Potato Psyllid (Hemiptera: Triozidae) on Host Clippings Inoculated With Ergot Alkaloids

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (5) ◽  
pp. 2079-2085
Author(s):  
Navneet Kaur ◽  
W Rodney Cooper ◽  
Jennifer M Duringer ◽  
Arash Rashed ◽  
Ismael E Badillo-Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Potato Psyllid ◽  
Bactericera Cockerelli ◽  
Artificial Diets ◽  
Synthetic Compounds ◽  
Potato Plants ◽  
Ipomoea Tricolor ◽  
Crude Extracts ◽  
Host Tissues

Abstract Our previous study provided correlative evidence that morning glory species harboring endophytic fungi (Periglandula) are resistant to potato psyllid [Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc)], whereas species free of fungi often allowed psyllid development. In this study, we manipulated levels of ergot alkaloids in host tissues by inoculating clippings from potato plants with extracts from morning glories that harbor Periglandula [Ipomoea leptophylla Torrey, Ipomoea imperati (Vahl) Grisebach, Ipomoea tricolor Cavanilles, Ipomoea pandurata (L.) G. F. Meyer, and Turbina corymbosa (L.)] and one species (Ipomoea alba L.) that does not harbor the endophyte. Ergot alkaloids (clavines, lysergic acid amides, and ergopeptines) were detected in potato clippings, thus confirming that leaves had taken up compounds from solutions of crude extracts. Psyllid mortality rates on inoculated clippings ranged between 53 and 93% in treatments producing biochemically detectable levels of alkaloids, when compared with 15% mortality in water controls or the alkaloid-free I. alba. We then tested synthetic analogs from each of the three alkaloid classes that had been detected in the crude extracts. Each compound was assayed by inoculating clippings of two host species (potato and tomato) at increasing concentrations (0, 1, 10, and 100 µg/ml in solution). Psyllids exhibited a large and significant increase in mortality rate beginning at the lowest two concentrations, indicating that even very small quantities of these chemicals led to mortality. Feeding by nymphs on artificial diets containing synthetic compounds resulted in 100% mortality within 48 h, irrespective of compound. Further testing of ergot alkaloids to characterize the mode of action that leads to psyllid mortality is warranted.

scholarly journals In the beginning: egg–microbe interactions and consequences for animal hosts

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1808) ◽  
pp. 20190593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer V. Nyholm
Keyword(s):  
Theme Issue ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Microbe Interactions ◽  
Animal Hosts ◽  
Microbial Products ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Host Evolution ◽  
The Ideal

Microorganisms are associated with the eggs of many animals. For some hosts, the egg serves as the ideal environment for the vertical transmission of beneficial symbionts between generations, while some bacteria use the egg to parasitize their hosts. In a number of animal groups, egg microbiomes often perform other essential functions. The eggs of aquatic and some terrestrial animals are especially susceptible to fouling and disease since they are exposed to high densities of microorganisms. To overcome this challenge, some hosts form beneficial associations with microorganisms, directly incorporating microbes and/or microbial products on or in their eggs to inhibit pathogens and biofouling. Other functional roles for egg-associated microbiomes are hypothesized to involve oxygen and nutrient acquisition. Although some egg-associated microbiomes are correlated with increased host fitness and are essential for successful development, the mechanisms that lead to such outcomes are often not well understood. This review article will discuss different functions of egg microbiomes and how these associations have influenced the biology and evolution of animal hosts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of the microbiome in host evolution’.

Is reproductive allocation in Senecio vulgaris plastic?

Botany ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 475-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Weiner ◽  
Lars Rosenmeier ◽  
Emma Soy Massoni ◽  
Josep Nogués Vera ◽  
Eva Hernández Plaza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Reproductive Allocation ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Nutrient Level ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Senecio Vulgaris ◽  
The Relationship

Several purported cases of plasticity in plant allocation patterns appear to be the effects of size and allometric growth (“apparent plasticity”). To ask whether there is true plasticity (i.e., a change in the allometric trajectory) in reproductive allocation in Senecio vulgaris  L., we grew S. vulgaris plants at high and low levels of water, nutrients, and competition, and analyzed the relationship between vegetative and seed biomass. Plant size was the major determinant of reproductive output, accounting for 83% of the variation in log (seed mass). There were also significant effects of the treatments that were not due to size, accounting for an additional 9% of the variation. The treatments affected the allometric coefficient (intercept), not the allometric exponent (slope) of the relationship, reflecting a small but significant shift in the efficiency of conversion of total plant biomass into reproductive biomass. In a second experiment, we grew S. vulgaris plants at three nutrient levels and allowed all individuals to complete their life cycles. Again, nutrient level had a small but significant effect on the allometric coefficient. Plasticity in reproductive allocation exists, but is very limited. The primary effects of the environment on the reproductive output of S. vulgaris occur via plant size.

Thigmatropic Tales

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Color Variation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Education ◽  
Feminist Analysis ◽  
Doctoral Work ◽  
Morning Glories

This chapter revisits the author's doctoral work on the maintenance of flower color variation in morning glories to explore how a feminist analysis can help explain the shape and scope of this research. It traces the idea of variation and the shifting understanding of its significance in the field of evolutionary biology and moreover posits that an interdisciplinary education would have fundamentally reshaped the author's work on the evolutionary biology of morning glory flower color variation. Thus, inspired by the touch-sensitive thigmatropic tendrils of morning glories, which allow the plants to scale large objects and burrow into narrow crevices, this chapter narrates tales of the morning glories through the curious and adventurous tendrils of naturecultural storytelling.

scholarly journals Identification and determination of ergot alkaloids in Morning Glory cultivars

2016 ◽  
Vol 408 (12) ◽  
pp. 3093-3102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Nowak ◽  
Michał Woźniakiewicz ◽  
Piotr Klepacki ◽  
Anna Sowa ◽  
Paweł Kościelniak
Keyword(s):  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Morning Glory

ERGOT ALKALOID CONTENTS OF Ipomoea lacunosa, I. hederaceae, I. trichocarpa, AND I. purpurea SEED

1986 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. WILKINSON ◽  
W. S. HARDCASTLE ◽  
C. S. McCORMICK
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Ipomoea Lacunosa ◽  
Total Alkaloids ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Layer Chromatography ◽  
Alkaloid Contents

Total ergot alkaloids extracted from seed of native, wild-type morning glories (i.e, pitted morning glory (Ipomoea lacunosa L.), ivyleaf morning glory (I. hederaceae (L.) Jacq.), cotton morning glory (I. trichocarpa Ell. var. torreyana (Gray) Shinners) and tall morning glory (I. purpurea (L.) Roth)) and quantified by spectrophotometry as ergonovine maleate equivalents were 0.001–0.004% (i.e., −2.1 to 7.8%) of the total alkaloids present in a horticultural cultivar (I. tricolor Cav ’Heavenly Blue’) which contained 0.052% total alkaloids in the seed. Thus, negligible psychotomimetic hazard exists from these levels of alkaloids in the wild-type morning glory seeds. Major alkaloids found in these native species were separated and identified by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography and co-chromatography with authentic standards. Major alkaloids were chanoclavine, elymoclavine, penniclavine, agroclavine, ergonovine, ergonovinine, ergosine, and ergosinine. Alkaloids varied between morning glory species.Key words: Morning glory, chanoclavine, elymoclavine, pennicalvine, agroclavine, ergonovine

scholarly journals MesoLAPS Predictions of Low-Level Convergence Lines over Northeastern Australia

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 910-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadett Weinzierl ◽  
Roger K. Smith ◽  
Michael J. Reeder ◽  
Gordon E. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Leading Edge ◽  
Australian Bureau ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Prediction System ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The North ◽  
Generation Mechanisms ◽  
Broad Scale ◽  
Morning Glories

Abstract The prediction of low-level convergence lines over northeastern Australia such as those which give rise to the “morning glory” phenomenon and the north Australian cloud line (NACL) are investigated using MesoLAPS, a mesoscale version of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s operational Limited Area Prediction System. The model is used also to examine aspects of the dynamics of such lines. The predictions were made during the Gulf Lines Experiment in 2002 and are compared here with data collected during the experiment. The ability of MesoLAPS to forecast the convergence lines is investigated in detail for selected cases. In two cases with well-developed southerly morning glory disturbances, the model was able to capture the separation of a borelike disturbance from an airmass change, although the model does not have the resolution to capture the wavelike structures that develop at the leading edge of the bore waves. An analysis of the entire 44-day period between 11 September and 24 October shows that MesoLAPS has significant skill in forecasting the lines, but it does not capture all of them. About 85% of forecasts of northeasterly morning glories and southerly morning glories, or of their nonoccurrence, were correct, while the corresponding percentage for the NACL was about 65%. However, about 15% of northeasterly morning glories and about 35% of NACL events that occurred were not forecast by the model. Also, only 6 out of 11 southerly morning glories were forecast. A detailed analysis of the MesoLAPS calculations indicates that the broad-scale generation mechanisms of northeasterly and southerly morning glories are similar and it enables the construction of a conceptual model for the generation of southerly morning glories.

scholarly journals Generation of Yellow Flowers of the Japanese Morning Glory by Engineering Its Flavonoid Biosynthetic Pathway toward Aurones

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 1871-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Hoshino ◽  
Takayuki Mizuno ◽  
Keiichi Shimizu ◽  
Shoko Mori ◽  
Sachiko Fukada-Tanaka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transgenic Plants ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Japanese Morning Glory ◽  
Yellow Color ◽  
Flavonoid Biosynthetic Pathway ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Yellow Coloration ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Morning Glories

Abstract Wild-type plants of the Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil) produce blue flowers that accumulate anthocyanin pigments, whereas its mutant cultivars show wide range flower color such as red, magenta and white. However, I. nil lacks yellow color varieties even though yellow flowers were curiously described in words and woodblocks printed in the 19th century. Such yellow flowers have been regarded as ‘phantom morning glories’, and their production has not been achieved despite efforts by breeders of I. nil. The chalcone isomerase (CHI) mutants (including line 54Y) bloom very pale yellow or cream-colored flowers conferred by the accumulation of 2′, 4′, 6′, 4-tetrahydoroxychalcone (THC) 2′-O-glucoside. To produce yellow phantom morning glories, we introduced two snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) genes to the 54Y line by encoding aureusidin synthase (AmAS1) and chalcone 4′-O-glucosyltransferase (Am4′CGT), which are necessary for the accumulation of aureusidin 6-O-glucoside and yellow coloration in A. majus. The transgenic plants expressing both genes exhibit yellow flowers, a character sought for many years. The flower petals of the transgenic plants contained aureusidin 6-O-glucoside, as well as a reduced amount of THC 2′-O-glucoside. In addition, we identified a novel aurone compound, aureusidin 6-O-(6″-O-malonyl)-glucoside, in the yellow petals. A combination of the coexpression of AmAS1 and Am4′CGT and suppression of CHI is an effective strategy for generating yellow varieties in horticultural plants.

scholarly journals Microbiomes In Natura : Importance of Invertebrates in Understanding the Natural Variety of Animal-Microbe Interactions

mSystems ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian M. Petersen ◽  
Jay Osvatic
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Group Interest ◽  
Invertebrate Animals ◽  
Microbe Interactions ◽  
Almost All ◽  
And Function ◽  
Development And Evolution

ABSTRACT Animals evolved in a world teeming with microbes, which play pivotal roles in their health, development, and evolution. Although the overwhelming majority of living animals are invertebrates, the minority of “microbiome” studies focus on this group. Interest in invertebrate-microbe interactions is 2-fold—a range of immune components are conserved across almost all animal (including human) life, and their functional roles may be conserved. Thus, understanding cross talk between microbes and invertebrate animals can lead to insights of broader relevance. Invertebrates offer unique opportunities to “eavesdrop” on intricate host-microbe conversations because they tend to associate with fewer microbes. On the other hand, considering the vast diversity of form and function that has evolved in the invertebrates, they likely evolved an equally diverse range of ways to interact with beneficial microbes. We have investigated only a few of these interactions in detail; thus, there is still great potential for fundamentally new discoveries.

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