Exploration of stem endophytic communities revealed developmental stage as one of the drivers of fungal endophytic community assemblages in two Amazonian hardwood genera

Abstract

Many aspects of the dynamics of tropical fungal endophyte communities are poorly known, including the influence of host taxonomy, host life stage, host defence, and host geographical distance on community assembly and composition. Recent fungal endophyte research has focused on Hevea brasiliensis due to its global importance as the main source of natural rubber. However, almost no data exist on the fungal community harboured within other Hevea species or its sister genus Micrandra . In this study, we expanded sampling to include four additional Hevea spp. and two Micrandra spp., as well as two host developmental stages. Through culture-dependent and -independent (metagenomic) approaches, a total of 381 seedlings and 144 adults distributed across three remote areas within the Peruvian Amazon were sampled. Results from both sampling methodologies indicate that host developmental stage had a greater influence in community assemblage than host taxonomy or locality. Based on FunGuild ecological guild assignments, saprotrophic and mycotrophic endophytes were more frequent in adults, while plant pathogens were dominant in seedlings. Trichoderma was the most abundant genus recovered from adult trees while Diaporthe prevailed in seedlings. Potential explanations for that disparity of abundance are discussed in relation to plant physiological traits and community ecology hypotheses.

Sphaeropsis sapinea and Associated Endophytes in Scots Pine: Interactions and Effect on the Host Under Variable Water Content

“…In total, only 18 filamentous, ascomycetous endophytes (8 -10 species per seedling) were isolated in this study, whereas 103 different species (5 -22 isolated per tree) were found in mature pine shoots in a study by Bußkamp et al (2020). Foliar fungal endophyte assemblages have been shown to vary between the developmental stage of the host (mature vs. seedling (Helander et al, 2011;Koukol et al, 2012;Skaltsas et al, 2019). The core foliar endophytes seem to be the same in seedlings and mature Scots pine (Blumenstein et al, 2020;Bußkamp et al, 2020) but community compositions and species differences are probably related to the age of the host (Taudière et al, 2018).…”

Microbiome Fingerprint as Biomarker for Geographical Origin and Heredity in Crocus sativus: A Feasibility Study

“…plants also, microbiome is reported to have significant variation based on different geographical locations, such as reported in the case of vineyards, Amazonian hardwood, and fragrant orchid. The researchers co-relate the variations in the plant microbiome to various factors such as location/genetics/abiotic and biotic factors (Coller et al, 2019;Skaltsas et al, 2019;Lin et al, 2020). However, reports are emerging on the core microbiome that remains unaltered at various developmental stages of the plants or plants from different locations/niches (Chen et al, 2018;Toju et al, 2018;Lin et al, 2020).…”

The Effect of Plant Geographical Location and Developmental Stage on Root-Associated Microbiomes of Gymnadenia conopsea

“…The previous study revealed that the root-associated microbiomes has been proven to be associated with the plant developmental stages (Lundberg et al, 2012;Skaltsas et al, 2019). To investigate the relationship between growth stage and the root-associated microbiome, two growth stages in two different growing regions were tested and compared.…”