Is it possible for the endophytes to colonize sterile parts of the plant tissue since they are systemic in nature and there is a possibility of them being transported through xylem vessels?
Yes, they may be seen in sterile parts of the plants because they are not pathogenic rather they are helpful to the metabolism of the plants.
Endophytes are commonly seen in sterile parts of the plant. Even if you germinate the seed in vitro after sterilization and grow the plant inside a bottle on a basal medium endophytes are seen. For example in one of the rice varieties we are working we could isolate 15 different endophytic bacteria from the leaf and stem only (using a in vitro grown plant). Actually they are seed transmitted.
@Tiza Michael Toryila, I have gone through literature with reports of isolation of endophytes from every part of a plant. Vertical and horizontal transmission of endophytes including their ability to move around xylem and phloem region and intracellular spaces of the cells could possibly allow them to colonize sterile parts of the plant. Personally I haven't performed any such experiments to confirm their presence yet and would like to know from other scholars too.
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