The present invention relates to a method for identifying and/or characterising an endophyte strain, said method including providing a plurality of samples of endophytes, subjecting said endophytes to genetic analysis; subjecting said endophytes to metabolic analysis and selecting endophytes having a desired genetic and metabolic profile. The present invention also relates to novel endophytes having a desired toxin profile wherein the endophyte produces significantly less toxic alkaloids compared with a control endophyte such as standard toxic (ST) endophyte; and/or significantly more alkaloids conferring beneficial properties compared with a control endophyte such as ST endophyte. The present invention also relates to endophyte variants having a desired genetic and metabolic profile, wherein said endophyte variants possess genetic and/or metabolic characteristics that result in a beneficial phenotype in a plant harbouring or otherwise associated with the endophyte variant. Preferably said endophyte variants are generated by polyploidisation or induced chromosome doubling.
本发明涉及一种鉴定和/或表征内生菌株的方法,所述方法包括提供多个内生菌样品,对所述内生菌进行遗传分析;对所述内生菌进行代谢分析,并选择具有所需遗传和代谢特征的内生菌。本发明还涉及具有所需毒素特征的新型内生菌,与对照内生菌(如标准毒性(ST)内生菌)相比,该内生菌产生的毒性
生物碱明显较少;和/或与对照内生菌(如ST内生菌)相比,该内生菌产生的具有有益特性的
生物碱明显较多。本发明还涉及具有所需的遗传和代谢特征的内生菌变体,其中所述内生菌变体具有遗传和/或代谢特征,这些特征可使携带或与内生菌变体相关的植物产生有益的表型。上述内生菌变体最好是通过多倍体化或诱导染色体加倍产生的。