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Ozone gas is a rising pollutant in the troposphere and is a consequence of human-driven global change. As a novel environmental stressor, interest in the impact of ozone on symbiotic systems is increasing. Focusing on the symbiosis between grasses and Epichloe species, we evaluated the effect of ozone exposure on the relative fitness of symbiotic and endophyte free plants and its transgenerational effects including seed performance and endophyte persistence. Endophyte symbiotic and endophyte free Lolium multiflorum plants were exposed to high ozone concentration at pre-anthesis. Seed production of symbiotic plants was 23% higher than that of endophyte free plants, being positively correlated with number of spikes and independent of ozone. Seed viability was negatively affected by the endophyte and improved by ozone. A dramatic negative effect of ozone on endophyte viability was manifested only …