Dataset Information

The role of inoculum dispersal and plant species identity in the assembly of leaf endophytic fungal communities.

ABSTRACT: Because of disturbance and plant species loss at the local level, many arid ecosystems in the western USA benefit from revegetation. There is a growing interest in improving revegetation success by purposefully inoculating revegetation plants with mutualistic endophytic fungi that increase plant stress tolerance. However, inoculant fungi must compete against fungi that indigenous to the habitat, many of which may not be mutualistic. Our overall goal, therefore, is to learn how to efficiently colonize revegetation plants using endophytic fungal inoculum. The goal will be facilitated by understanding the factors that limit colonization of plants by endophytic fungi, including inoculum dispersal and host compatibility. We analyzed endophytic fungal communities in leaves of Bromus tectorum and Elymus elymoides (Poaceae), Chrysothamnus depressus and Artemisia tridentata (Asteraceae), Alyssum alyssoides (Brassicaceae) and Atriplex canescens (Amaranthaceae), each occurring in each of 18 field plots. We found that dispersal limitation was significant for endophytic fungal communities of Atriplex canescens and Bromus tectorum, accounting for 9 and 17%, respectively, of the variation in endophytic fungal community structure, even though the maximum distance between plots was only 350 m. Plant species identity accounted for 33% of the variation in endophytic fungal community structure. These results indicate that the communities of endophytic fungi assembling in these plant species depend significantly on proximity to inoculum source as well as the identity of the plant species. Therefore, if endophytic fungi are to be used to facilitate revegetation by these plant species, land managers may find it profitable to consider both the proximity of inoculum to revegetation plants and the suitability of the inoculum to targeted host plant species.

SUBMITTER: Ricks KD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6640817 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The role of inoculum dispersal and plant species identity in the assembly of leaf endophytic fungal communities.

Ricks Kevin D KD Koide Roger T RT

PloS one 20190716 7

Because of disturbance and plant species loss at the local level, many arid ecosystems in the western USA benefit from revegetation. There is a growing interest in improving revegetation success by purposefully inoculating revegetation plants with mutualistic endophytic fungi that increase plant stress tolerance. However, inoculant fungi must compete against fungi that indigenous to the habitat, many of which may not be mutualistic. Our overall goal, therefore, is to learn how to efficiently col ...[more]

PMID: 31310633

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Project description:BackgroundPhyllosphere microbes play important roles in host plant performance and fitness. Recent studies have suggested that tropical and temperate forests harbor diverse phyllosphere bacterial and fungal communities and their assembly is driven by host species identity and plant traits. However, no study has yet examined how seasonality (e.g. dry vs. wet seasons) influences phyllosphere microbial community assembly in natural forests. In addition, in subtropical forests characterized as the transitional zonal vegetation type from tropical to temperate forests, how tree phyllosphere microbial communities are assembled remains unknown. In this study, we quantified bacterial and fungal community structure and diversity on the leaves of 45 tree species with varying phylogenetic identities and importance values within a 20-ha lower subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest plot in dry and wet seasons. We explored if and how the microbial community assembly varies with host species identity, plant traits and seasonality.ResultsPhyllosphere microbial communities in the subtropical forest are more abundant and diverse than those in tropical and temperate forests, and the tree species share a "core microbiome" in either bacteria or fungi. Variations in phyllosphere bacterial and fungal community assembly are explained more by host species identity than by seasonality. There is a strong clustering of the phyllosphere microbial assemblage amongst trees by seasonality, and the seasonality effects are more pronounced on bacterial than fungal community assembly. Host traits have different effects on community compositions and diversities of both bacteria and fungi, and among them calcium concentration and importance value are the most powerful explaining variables for bacteria and fungi, respectively. There are significant evolutionary associations between host species and phyllosphere microbiome.ConclusionsOur results suggest that subtropical tree phyllosphere microbial communities vary with host species identity, plant traits and seasonality. Host species identity, compared to seasonality, has greater effects on phyllosphere microbial community assembly, and such effects differ between bacterial and fungal communities. These findings advance our understanding of the patterns and drivers of phyllosphere microbial community assembly in zonal forests at a global scale.

Project description:Endophytic fungi are important in diverse plant functions but knowledge of the factors that shape assemblages of these symbionts is lacking. Here, using a culture-dependent approach, we report 4,178 endophytic fungal isolates representing 16 orders isolated from stems, roots and leaves of three cruciferous plant species, Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.), radish (Raphanus sativus L.) and white cabbage (B. olerocea L.), collected from 21 focal fields with different landscape contexts and pesticide uses during four seasons (summer, autumn, winter and spring). The colonization rate of fungi was found to be most strongly affected by season, plant identity and plant tissue. The colonization was highest during autumn, followed by summer, spring and lowest during winter. The colonization was highest in B. olerocea (53.2%), followed by B. rapa (42.6%), and lowest in R. sativus (35.0%). The colonization was highest in stems (51.9%) in all plant types, followed by leaves (42.4%) and roots (37.5%). Hypocreales was the dominant order (33.3% of all the isolates), followed by Glomerellales (26.5%), Eurotiales (12.1%), Pleosporales (9.8%) and Capnodiales (6.0%). Fungal endophyte abundance (number of isolates) followed the same pattern as colonization rate, while species richness varied with season and host plant tissue. Ordination analyses showed that the abundance and richness of Hypocreales, Eurotiales and Sordariales were associated with plant roots, while Capnodiales, Pleosporales and Trichosphaeriales were associated with spring. Other environmental factors, elevation, and the proportions of grassland, forest, orchard and waterbodies in the surrounding landscape also exerted effects within some categories of other main effects or for certain fungal taxa. Our results indicate that while fungal endophyte communities of crucifer crops vary strongly with the season, they are also strongly structured by plant identity and plant tissue, to a lesser extent by pesticide use and only weakly by landscape composition. The understanding of the ecological roles of fungal endophytes could contribute to habitat management and consequently improve crop pest management.

Dataset Information

The role of inoculum dispersal and plant species identity in the assembly of leaf endophytic fungal communities.

Publications

The role of inoculum dispersal and plant species identity in the assembly of leaf endophytic fungal communities.

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