Skip to main content
ISMPMI Congress 2025 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-233 - Serendipita indica confers robust protection in Arabidopsis accessions, compensating for differences in host immunity

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Microbe-mediated impacts on plant-parasite interactions

    Presenting Author(s)

  • NF

    Natalie Finke

    Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne
    Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    • Author(s)

  • AY

    Alex Yan

    University of Cologne
    Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • LA

    Laura Armbruster

    Postdoc
    Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS)
    Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • CS

    Christopher Stephens

    Crop Science Centre
    Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

  • AZ

    Alga Zuccaro (she/her/hers)

    Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS)
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

The beneficial root endophyte Serendipita indica promotes plant growth and enhances resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses across a wide range of host species. To investigate the host genetic basis of Si-mediated protection against the fungal pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana in Arabidopsis thaliana, we screened 47 European accessions. No major differences in protection were observed among accessions, suggesting that this protective effect is largely of host genetics. However, we identified two closely related accessions from Southern Sweden (0509 and 0775) that differed in their susceptibility to Bs, despite high genetic similarity. RNA sequencing revealed that both accessions mounted strong and largely conserved responses to Bs, but not to Si. In both accessions, the pathogen-triggered response was attenuated in the presence of Si. Accession 0775 exhibited higher pathogen colonization and a more pronounced transcriptional response compared to 0509. Presence–absence variation analysis of pseudo-genomes identified ten putative immune receptor genes expressed in 0509 but absent in 0775, which may underlie the increased susceptibility of 0775. Despite this, strong protection by Si was observed, suggesting that root endophytes can mitigate pathogen susceptibility even in hosts with naturally reduced or less effective immune responses. This study highlights the potential of beneficial microbes to confer ecologically relevant protection, independent of host genetic resistance.