Order:    Solanales
Family:    Convolvulaceae (Morning Glory, etc)

VS

Order:    Solanales
Family:    Solanacea (Tomato, Potato, Tobacco, Pepper, Eggplant, Datura, etc)

Tribe Aniseieae

    * Aniseia Choisy
    * Iseia O'Donell
    * Odonellia K.R.Robertson
    * Tetralocularia O'Donell[3]

Tribe Cardiochlamyeae

    * Cardiochlamys Oliv.
    * Cordisepalum Verdc.
    * Dinetus Buch.-Ham. ex Sweet
    * Poranopsis Roberty
    * Tridynamia Gagnep.[4]

Tribe Convolvuleae

    * Calystegia R.Br. - Bindweed, Morning glory
    * Convolvulus L. - Bindweed, Morning glory
    * Polymeria R.Br.[5]

Tribe Cresseae

    * Bonamia Thouars
    * Cladostigma Radlk.
    * Cressa L.
    * Evolvulus L.
    * Hildebrandtia Vatke
    * Itzaea Standl. & Steyerm.
    * Neuropeltis Wall.
    * Neuropeltopsis Ooststr.
    * Sabaudiella Chiov.
    * Seddera Hochst.
    * Stylisma Raf.
    * Wilsonia R.Br.[6]

   

Tribe Cuscuteae

    * Cuscuta L. - Dodder[7]

Tribe Dichondreae

    * Calycobolus Willd. ex Schult.
    * Dichondra J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
    * Dipteropeltis Hallier f.
    * Falkia Thunb.
    * Metaporana N.E.Br.
    * Nephrophyllum A.Rich.
    * Porana Burm.f.
    * Rapona Baill.[8]

Tribe Erycibeae

    * Ericybe Roxb.[9]

Tribe Humbertieae

    * Humbertia [10]

Tribe Ipomoeeae

    * Argyreia Lour. - Hawaiian baby woodrose
    * Astripomoea A.Meeuse
    * Blinkworthia Choisy
    * Ipomoea L. - Morning glory, Sweet potato
    * Lepistemon Blume
    * Lepistemonopsis Dammer
    * Paralepistemon Lejoly & Lisowski
    * Rivea Choisy - Coaxihuitl
    * Stictocardia Hallier f.
    * Turbina Raf.[11]

   

Tribe Jacquemontieae

    * Jacquemontia Choisy[12]

Tribe Maripeae

    * Dicranostyles Benth.
    * Lysiostyles Benth.
    * Maripa Aubl.[13]

Tribe Merremieae

    * Decalobanthus Ooststr.
    * Hewittia Wight & Arn.
    * Hyalocystis Hallier f.
    * Merremia Dennst. ex Endl. - Hawaiian woodrose
    * Operculina Silva Manso
    * Xenostegia D.F.Austin & Staples[14]

Not placed in tribe

    * Pentacrostigma K.Afzel.

Ergoline alkaloids are a group of physiologically active natural products occurring in taxonomically unrelated fungal and plant taxa Clavicipitaceae (Hypocreales) and Convolvulaceae (Solanales). We show in the present paper that clavicipitaceous fungi are associated with four different ergoline alkaloid-containing plant taxa of the family Convolvulaceae. These fungi are macroscopically visible on the adaxial surface when young leaf buds are opened or are detectable by molecular biological techniques in seeds. Detectability of the fungus correlates with the absence or presence of ergoline alkaloids within the respective plant organ.

The fungi contain the gene (dmaW) responsible for the committed step in ergoline alkaloid biosynthesis. Sequencing of ribosomal DNA (18S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer) as well as the dmaW gene (partial) and construction of phylogenetic trees show that the fungi are clavicipitaceous, not identical but very closely related.Ergoline alkaloids are also present in different genera of a dicotyledonous plant family, the Convolvulaceae.14 Certain representatives of this family are used in the uplands of southern Oaxaca in Mexico for divinatory and hallucinatory purposes.7, 14 The physiological potential of ergoline alkaloids is therefore of interest in medicine and agronomy as well as ecological and anthropological studies.It was one of the unresolved questions why these alkaloids occur in such diverse taxa as the fungal Clavicipitaceae and Eurotiaceae on one hand and in Convolvulaceae, a higher plant family, on the other. An explanation for this enigma has recently been given. There are strong indications that Ipomoea asarifolia Roem. et Schult plants (Convolvulaceae) are colonized by an ergoline alkaloid-producing clavicipitaceous fungus (provisionally named IasaF13) that is responsible for the accumulation of ergoline alkaloids within the plant.18, 28 Treatment of I. asarifolia with fungicides resulted in the elimination of a leaf-associated fungus and concomitant loss of alkaloids from the plant.18 This fungus is equipped with genetic material essential for the synthesis of ergoline alkaloids (Markert and Leistner, unpublished) and is seed-transmitted.28 The fungus is specialized for growth on I. asarifolia plants, as indicated by its inability to grow on different known synthetic media designed for fungal growth.18, 28...
We here demonstrate that highly similar fungi are also present on Convolvulaceae plants other than the white-blooming I. asarifolia species. Molecular biological analyses of the fungal isolates show that they are clavicipitaceous but not identical, albeit very closely related.he four plant taxa were investigated for the quantity of ergoline alkaloids by an optical test based on the Van Urk reaction.18 The seeds are the main site of accumulation of ergoline alkaloids (Table 1), an observation that is not unexpected.10 Although alkaloids were reported to be present in aerial parts of I. violacea,10, 22 alkaloids were detected only in seeds but not in shoots of I. violacea plants investigated in the present work. This will be discussed later...

Ergoline alkaloids occurring in Convolvulaceae plants were first isolated and identified by spectroscopic methods from seeds of R. corymbosa (L.) Hall.f. (i.e., T. corymbosa (L.) Raf.) and I. violacea L.14 We investigated the ergoline alkaloids present in shoots (both types of I. asarifolia and T. corymbosa) or seeds (I. violacea) because there are conflicting reports on the presence in Convolvulaceae of these natural products,1, 26 which were often identified by paper- or thin-layer chromatography alone.3, 8, 29 The alkaloids present in the red I. asarifolia plants had not been investigated previously. Identification was carried out by HPLC-MS and comparison with authentic material. The results are listed in Table 2. The spectrum of major alkaloids present in both types of I. asarifolia turned out to be qualitatively but not quantitatively identical. As opposed to previous publications we were unable to detect agroclavine and elymoclavine in I. violacea (Table 2).

Co-occurrence of Alkaloids and Fungus. It is our experience that ergoline alkaloids and the clavicipitaceous fungus IasaF13 always co-occur in the intact I. asarifolia (white-blooming) plant.18, 28 Indeed, visual inspection of young leaf buds that were opened by manipulation (Figure 2B) showed that the fungus was macroscopically visible as white mycelial layers on the adaxial leaf surfaces of both I. asarifolia plants and T. corymbosa but not on I. violacea (Figure 2B). The typical distribution of the fungal colonies on the leaf surface is shown in Figure 2C, after staining with Uvitex 2B (Figure 2D). Staining is directed toward the carbohydrate cell walls of the fungal hyphae but leaves the underlying plant cuticle unaffected; the mycelium forming the fungal colonies became very well visible (Figure 2D).

Since the I. violacea seeds do contain alkaloids (Table 1), a clavicipitaceous fungus should be present in the seeds, whereas the leaves of this plant should be devoid of both fungus and alkaloids. This is actually observed as documented in Figures 2B, C, and D and Tables 1 and 2.

Construction of Phylogenetic Trees. DNA was extracted from seeds of I. violacea, and the mycelia were collected from leaf buds of the three other plants shown in Figure 2 in order to characterize the fungi. The nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA (18S rDNA), the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS4), and the 4-(?,?-dimethylallyl)tryptophan synthase gene (dmaW, i.e., cpd1 or FgaPT2, compare Figure 1) were targeted for PCR amplification, and the products obtained were sequenced. The dmaW gene was chosen because it catalyzes the determinant step in ergoline alkaloid biosynthesis, introducing a dimethylallyl residue into the 4-position of tryptophan (Figure 1).9, 12, 13, 30, 31 Sequencing was carried out on both strands of three (dmaW gene) or at least five (18S rDNA, ITS) selected clones.

The 18S rDNA sequences of all four fungal DNA isolates turned out to be identical, indicating that the fungi are closely related and belong to the order Hypocreales, as shown previously28 for the fungus IasaF13 present on I. asarifolia (white blooming). The provisionally named fungal isolates and the accession numbers of their 18S rDNA sequences are as follows: I. asarifolia (white blooming), IasaF13-DQ119128; I. asarifolia (red blooming), IasaredF01-DQ641918; I. violacea, IviolF01-DQ641919; T. corymbosa, TcorF01-DQ127128.

In order to possibly obtain a better fine resolution for the closely related fungal taxa, we analyzed the ITS region. The amplified ITS sequences of the fungi associated with all four plant taxa were first compared by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). The amplified ITS DNA of the fungi IasaF13, IasaredF01, and TcorF01 were indistinguishable by the SSCP method, but all three showed a clear difference from those of IviolF01 (data not shown).

Subsequently the ITS DNA of the fungi on I. asarifolia (both types) and on T. corymbosa were sequenced and found to be identical, whereas the ITS sequence of the fungus from I. violacea exhibits 84.3% similarity to the sequences of the fungi on the other three plant taxa. The ITS sequences were deposited in GenBank: I. asarifolia (white blooming), IasaF13-AY937227; I. asarifolia (red blooming), IasaredF01-DQ641920; T. corymbosa, TcorF01-AY995219; I. violacea, IviolF01-DQ641921.

Construction of phylogenetic trees based on 18S rDNA and ITS sequences had previously shown that IasaF13 is a clavicipitaceous fungus.28 Since IasaredF01 and TcorF01 have sequences (18S rDNA and ITS) identical to those of IasaF13 (white blooming), it is concluded that they also belong to the family Clavicipitaceae. Integration of the ITS sequence of IviolF01 into a phylogenetic tree (Figure 3) demonstrates that this fungus is also clavicipitaceous and has a root in common with the fungi on the other three plant taxa...

The presence of alkaloids within the plant shoots can be predicted from the presence of mycelium on the adaxial leaf surface of leaf buds (Figure 2)...

These observations challenge the hypothesis that the occurrence of ergoline alkaloids in such diverse taxa as clavicipitaceous fungi and convolvulaceous plants may be explained by a horizontal gene transfer that occurred during evolution between these taxa or that the biosynthetic pathway leading to ergoline alkaloids was repeatedly “invented” during evolution. It seems more appropriate to attribute the occurrence of ergoline alkaloids in dicotyledonous plants to the presence of a plant-associated clavicipitaceous fungus...

The alkaloids present in the plants under investigation (Figure 1) can be divided into biosynthetic precursors (chanoclavine I, agroclavine, elymoclavine) and derivatives (lysergic acid-?-hydroxy ethyl amide including its isomer, lysergic acid amide including its isomer and ergonovine) of lysergic acid.10, 12, 13, 30 The derivatives of lysergic acid are detectable with our HPLC-MS system in each plant investigated. Agroclavine and elymoclavine, however, were only detected in T. corymbosa but must also be present in the other taxa because they are precursors of lysergic acid including their derivatives (Figure 1). We have to assume that these two precursors went undetected due to their scarcity in I. asarifolia (both types) and I. violacea (Table 2). The difference in the ergoline alkaloid composition of all four taxa investigated therefore must be primarily a quantitave rather than qualitative difference

Why is it you doubt it will be hard to transfer to bindweed (or other plants) by way of dodder? I.e what makes you assume it cant/wont/isn't likely too?
Just because it is hard to grow on agar? It has been grown in cultures of the plant - but did not produce alkaloids, like you said.

When I read all this, the idea of grafting the two plants came to my mind. One could try to graft a stem of Ipomoea arvensis onto an active plant of argyreia nervosa, I bet that would transfer the fungus to the inactive species. As a next step, one would have to make cuttings from the Ipomoea arvensis part and reproduce them. When they produce seeds, I think the fungus should also be in there. I don´t know if it will work or not, but I can try that in some weeks, when my argyreia nervosa has gotten bigger.

I also imagine it quite difficult to graft the two of these because of mechanical reasons, the stem of Ipomoea arvensis is very thin and thus probably quite sensitive.

Yes please try it. possibly you could get the vine to grow around the HBWR and than carefully cut or scratch the area the stems are tightly in contact with one another - hopefully leading to them grafting together.

Are you sure it is active and infected with the fungi? Many HWBR strains are not.... :/