<b>Fungal endophyte symbionts enhance plant adaptation in Antarctic habitats: </b><b>Reciprocal transplant data</b>

The data reports the results from a field reciprocal transplant involving the vascular flora of the Antarctic tundra (<i>Colobanthus quitensis </i>and<i> Deschampsia antarctica</i>), an extreme environment where fungal endophytes are known for playing important ecological roles. After characterizing the root-associated fungal endophyte communities of both species in two distinct Antarctic terrestrial habitats—namely, hill and coast—we experimentally assessed the contribution of fungal endophytes to plant adaptation in each habitat. The field reciprocal transplant experiment involved removing endophytes from a set of plants and crossing symbiotic status (with [E+] and without endophytes [E-]) with habitat for both species, aiming to assess plant performance and fitness. Plant individual responses included their level of lipid peroxidation (tbars), foliar proline concentration, <i>NHX1</i> relative gene expression, final biomass and plant survival.