Biological Control of Insect-Pest and Diseases by Endophytes
The natural and biological control of insect-pests and diseases affecting cultivated plants has gained much attention in the past decades as a way of reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture. Biocontrol has been frequently used in tropical countries,
- PDF / 715,105 Bytes
- 26 Pages / 504.57 x 720 pts Page_size
- 108 Downloads / 213 Views
13
Paulo Teixeira Lacava and João Lúcio Azevedo
Abstract
The natural and biological control of insect-pests and diseases affecting cultivated plants has gained much attention in the past decades as a way of reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture. Biocontrol has been frequently used in tropical countries, such as Brazil, and it is supported by the development of local basic and applied research. In this context, tropical endophytes have attracted special attention to develop their roles to control of pest insect and plant diseases. Endophytic symbiotic microorganisms are defined in different ways and a recent definition includes all of the culturable microorganisms that inhabit inner parts of plant tissues causing no harm to their hosts. They can be divided in two groups: those that do not generate external structures from the host and those able to develop external structures such as nodules of N2 fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Endophytes have important roles in the plant host protection, acting against predators and pathogens. They protect host plants against herbivores such as cattle and pest insect. They also may increase plant resistance to pathogens that produce antimicrobial agents and plant-growth hormones and have other effects countering biotic and abiotic stresses. Endophytic microorganisms were first studied in plants in temperate regions but more recently have been also studied in plants from tropical regions. In this chapter, we focus on examples of endophytic bacteria and fungi, especially those that may control pest insects and plant diseases by antagonistic effects, production of enzymes, or introduction of heterologous genes by recombinant DNA technology.
P.T. Lacava (*) Centre of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luís, km 235, PO BOX 676, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]
J.L. Azevedo Department of Genetics, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of São Paulo, Av. Pádua Dias 11, PO BOX 83, 13400-970 Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
V.C. Verma and A.C. Gange (eds.), Advances in Endophytic Research, DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-1575-2_13, © Springer India 2014
231
P.T. Lacava and J.L. Azevedo
232
1
Introduction
The term endophyte is applied to microorganisms that live within plant tissues for all or part of their life cycles and cause no apparent infections or symptoms of disease (Wilson 1995; Azevedo et al. 2000; Bacon and White 2000; Saikkonen et al. 2004). Hallmann et al. (1997) describe endophytes as those organisms that can be isolated from surface-sterilized plant parts or extracted from inner tissues and that cause no damage to the host plant. In addition, Azevedo and Araújo (2007) suggested that endophytes are all microorganisms, culturable or not, that inhabit the interior of plant tissues, cause no harm to the host, and do not develop external structures. More recently, Mendes and Azevedo (2007) defined endophytic microorganisms in the same way as other authors (Hallmann et al. 19
Data Loading...
