A Dimorphic and Virulence-Enhancing Endosymbiont Bacterium Discovered in Rhizoctonia solani

Abstract

The ubiquitous soilborne and plant-pathogenic basidiomycete Rhizoctonia solani, although classified as a single species, is a complex of anastomosis groups (AGs) that cause disease in a broad range of higher plants. Here, we investigated the persistent co-isolation of bacteria with R. solani from brown patch-infected, cool-season turfgrasses, and report the presence of endo-hyphal bacteria, related to members in the genus Enterobacter, in an isolate of R. solani AG 2-2IIIB. The intracellular localization of the bacteria was corroborated by fluorescence, confocal and electron microscopy, and DNA analysis. Furthermore, the Enterobacter sp., which is rod-shaped in the free-living form, exists as an L-form (spheroid) within the fungus, a phenomenon not previously reported in endosymbionts. Our findings also indicate that the bacterium is required for full virulence of R. solani on creeping bentgrass and production of wild type levels of the toxin phenylacetic acid in fungal cultures. The possible presence of bacterial endosymbionts in R. solani AG 2-2IIIB may portend the presence of bacteria in additional AGs as well as other Rhizoctonia species, and may help resolve some of the complexities of R. solani pathogenicity. A closely associated bacterium could influence aspects of plant host pathology.