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Kentucky Researchers Discover Fungus Producing Rare Insect-Repelling Chemicals
Developing
In Short: University of Kentucky researchers have discovered a fungus in a native Kentucky grass that produces rare chemicals to protect the plant from insects. The fungus, identified as Epichloë brachyelytri, lives inside the bearded shorthusk grass without harming it.
According to the study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the fungus creates three different alkaloids, including exo-1-acetamidopyrrolizidine and chanoclavine, which are typically intermediate steps in the chemical production process.
Lead researcher Christopher Schardl, Ph.D., explained that this is the first time a fungus has been shown to produce both chemicals simultaneously, making it a unique discovery.
The research team, which included Padmaja Nagabhyru, Ph.D., collected samples from six different locations across Kentucky, covering a 171-kilometer path, to study the fungus's role in protecting the grass.
Schardl noted that producing these chemicals is a significant energy investment for the fungus, suggesting that the chemicals must be crucial for the fungus's survival in most environments.
The symbiotic relationship between the fungus and the grass is mutually beneficial: the grass provides a home for the fungus, while the fungus produces chemicals that deter insects from eating the plant.
What's still developing
- University of Kentucky researchers in the Department of Plant Pathology have discovered a fungus is potentially providing insect protection for a native wild grass in the Commonwealth.
- By Jordan Strickler Published on September 29, 2026 Researchers at the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) have discovered that a fungus living inside a common Kentucky woodland grass produces a rare combination of chemicals that likely helps protect the plant from hungry insects.
- “Finding it more often than expected by chance motivated us to investigate if this chemical blend is an especially potent protectant from insects,” Schardl said.
- Inside this grass is the fungus Epichloë brachyelytri, an “endophyte” that lives inside a plant without harming it.
- Two of them—exo-1-acetamidopyrrolizidine and chanoclavine—are usually just middle steps that other fungi turn into more complex chemicals.
- But this fungus stops the process early and keeps them as the final product.
- They also studied grass grown at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky, where UK staff members Wes Hansen and Judson Collins helped grow the plants.