Molecular Microbiology Research 2024, Vol.14, No.2, 99-108 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mmr 99 Research Insight Open Access Endophyte Diversity in Wild Wheat: Potential for Agricultural Utilization Xueli Zhang, Zhonghui He Modern Agricultural Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding author: zhonghui.he@cuixi.org Molecular Microbiology Research, 2024, Vol.14, No.2 doi: 10.5376/mmr.2024.14.0011 Received: 01 Mar., 2024 Accepted: 05 Apr., 2024 Published: 17 Apr., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Zhang and He, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Zhang X.L., and He Z.H., 2024, Endophyte diversity in wild wheat: potential for agricultural utilization, Molecular Microbiology Research, 14(2): 99-108 (doi: 10.5376/mmr.2024.14.0011) Abstract This study explores the diversity of endophytes in wild wheat and their potential applications in agriculture. The study reveals that wild wheat relatives, such as Triticum dicoccoides and Aegilops sharonensis, harbor significantly higher endophyte diversity compared to domesticated wheat, including many unique taxa absent in modern varieties. These endophytes show tremendous potential in enhancing plant stress tolerance (such as drought, salinity, and heavy metal tolerance), improving disease resistance, and promoting plant growth. Furthermore, modern molecular techniques, such as next-generation sequencing, have identified distinct microbial communities in different plant organs, which play a critical role in influencing plant health and stress responses. Endophytes, as biofertilizers and biocontrol agents, demonstrate significant potential in reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Integrating these beneficial endophytes into breeding programs could enhance the stress tolerance and productivity of domesticated wheat. Future research should focus on tissue-specific interactions between endophytes and host plants, evaluating their efficacy under field conditions, and assessing the long-term sustainability of endophyte application to advance their use in sustainable agriculture. Keywords Wild wheat; Endophyte diversity; Stress tolerance; Sustainable agriculture; Molecular techniques 1 Introduction Wild wheat species, such as Triticum dicoccoides and Aegilops sharonensis, are the progenitors of modern cultivated wheat and possess a rich genetic diversity that has been largely untapped in contemporary agriculture. These wild relatives harbor a variety of endophytes - microorganisms that live within plant tissues without causing harm - that can significantly influence plant health and stress resilience. Endophytes, including both bacteria and fungi, have been shown to enhance plant growth, improve resistance to pathogens, and increase tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought (Sun et al., 2020). The study of endophyte diversity in wild wheat is crucial for several reasons. Wild wheat species contain a broader and more diverse array of endophytes compared to their domesticated counterparts, which have lost much of this diversity through selective breeding (Herrera et al., 2016; Ofek-Lalzar et al., 2016). This diversity includes unique taxa with potential beneficial effects that are absent in modern wheat varieties. For instance, endophytes from wild wheat have been shown to improve drought tolerance and reduce stress damage in cultivated wheat (Llorens et al., 2019). Additionally, understanding the endophytic communities in wild wheat can lead to the identification of novel biocontrol agents against common wheat pathogens, such as Fusarium graminearum, thereby reducing the reliance on chemical pesticides (Comby et al., 2016; Noel et al., 2021). The study will characterize the endophytic communities in various wild wheat species and compare them to those in domesticated wheat, evaluate the potential benefits of these endophytes in enhancing stress tolerance, growth, and disease resistance in cultivated wheat, and identify key endophytic taxa that could be harnessed for future wheat improvement programs, with the hope of revealing the potential value of wild wheat endophytes and providing a basis for their utilization in sustainable agricultural practices.
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