A certain type of fungus has captured the imagination of Brock University researchers since their discovery that the fungus supplies plants with naturally-occurring nitrogen, making it an excellent \u2018green\u2019 fertilizer.<\/p>\n
In a breakthrough paper<\/a> published eight years ago, the team documented how Metarhizium <\/em>is able to kill bugs and transfer nitrogen from those dead insects into a plant\u2019s root system. Subsequent research<\/a>\u00a0revealed that the fungus receives energy from the plant, making the fungus-plant relationship even more mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n Halfway around the world, student researcher Shasha Hu was also intrigued by an insect-associated fungus. While doing her master\u2019s degree at Nanjing University in China, she found that the fungus she studied produced metabolites, biologically active substances that are usually small molecules.<\/p>\n \u201cI wondered, ‘What is the function of these metabolites in the fungus?’\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n As she searched for the answers, Hu came across the work of Brock Professor of Biology Michael Bidochka, who heads Metarhizium <\/em>research at the University. She was intrigued by what she read.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked him if I could do research about the interaction between the fungi and the host plant,” she says. “He said yes, so that\u2019s the reason I came to Brock.”<\/p>\n One aspect of Hu\u2019s PhD work in Bidochka\u2019s lab focuses on the production and function of conidia, which are a type of spore.<\/p>\n Metarhizium<\/em> produces and uses this spore to kill bugs, which, in turn, become the plant\u2019s nitrogen source.\u00a0However, when Metarhizium is grown in a Petri dish, it loses the ability to produce conidia over time. This is a problem in the commercial production of fungal conidia for insect biocontrol or as a plant biofertilizer.<\/p>\n Hu wanted to see what would happen with conidia production if the fungus was grown through a plant as the host.<\/p>\n She used a technique called the \u2018drenching method,\u2019 in which she added large amounts of conidia to soil and then grew Metarhizium <\/em>in that soil. <\/em>Meanwhile, Hu planted a bean plant into the soil. Eventually, the fungus entered the plant through its root system and started growing inside the bean plant.<\/p>\n Then, surprisingly, when the fungus was re-isolated, it ramped up conidia production.<\/p>\n \u201cThe plant did something to the fungi to make the fungi produce more spores,\u201d says Hu, who\u00a0found that the bean plant plays a role in \u2018epigenetic modification,\u2019 a process that enables cells to interpret instructions encoded in DNA in different ways.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means the expression of the DNA in the genes can be changed without altering the sequence of the DNA.”<\/p>\n One of her research goals is to figure out what triggers the epigenetic modification process in the bean plant so that the fungus can be modified to make more conidia spores without it having to grow inside the bean plant.<\/p>\n Bidochka, who supervises Hu, says this research has tremendous implications for agriculture.<\/p>\n \u201cShasha did a great job of using her imagination in order to solve a problem in the commercial production of this fungus,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes you have to think outside the box.\u201d<\/p>\n For her part, Hu says she aims to \u201cmake a difference\u201d through her research.<\/p>\n \u201cI love to do research that has some application in agriculture,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n