ABSTRACT
This chapter provides researchers with the basic information and techniques for examining, culturing, and manipulating grass endophytes. These techniques vary from simple to complex and have been shown to be fundamental for in vitro and in planta studies of grass endophytes. In some instances several techniques or media formulations are unavailable in published form. Antisera from endophytes may be used to study the taxonomic relatedness among endophytes, and may be used in one of several procedures for detecting endophytes in grass tissue. To isolate endophytes from leaf sheaths or culms, the procedure is similar. Young tissue should be obtained for isolation, as older tissues often contain many additional fungi that make isolation of slow-growing Acremonium endophytes difficult. Endophyte-free and endophyte-infected ramets are used to study physiological and morphological responses of plants, in order to determine if there is an endophyte effect on these responses.
