Leaf and Root Endospheres Harbor Lower Fungal Diversity and Less Complex Fungal Co-occurrence Patterns Than Rhizosphere

Abstract

Plant-associated microbiomes are key determinants of host-plant fitness, productivity, and function. However, compared to bacterial community, we still lack fundamental knowledge concerning the variation in the fungal microbiome at the plant niche level. In this study, we quantified the fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil, as well as leaf and root endosphere compartments of a subtropical island shrub, Mussaenda kwangtungensis , using high-throughput DNA sequencing. We found that fungal microbiomes varied significantly across different plant compartments. Rhizosphere soil exhibited the highest level of fungal diversity, whereas the lowest level was found in the leaf endosphere. Further, the fungal communities inhabiting the root endosphere shared a greater proportion of fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with rhizosphere communities than with leaf fungal endophyte communities, despite significant separation in community structure between the two belowground compartments. The fungal co-occurrence networks in the three compartments of M. kwangtungensis showed scale-free features and non-random co-occurrence patterns and matched the topological properties of small-world and evidently modular structure. Additionally, the rhizosphere network was more complex and showed higher centrality and connectedness than the leaf and root endosphere networks. Overall, our findings provide comprehensive insights into the structural variability, niche differentiation, and co-occurrence patterns in the plant associated fungal microbiome.

Microbiome Variation Across Two Hemlock Species With Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation

“…Belowground habitats also had a greater proportion of Basidiomycota reads, specifically Agaricomycetes. These broad taxonomic patterns among different plant-associated habitats resemble those found in other temperate tree species such as Magnolia kwangtungensis (Qian et al, 2019), Populus trichocarpa and P. deltoides × P. trichocarpa hybrids (Cregger et al, 2018), and Picea abies (Kovalchuk et al, 2018;Ren et al, 2019;Terhonen et al, 2019), suggesting that, at higher taxonomic levels, microbiomes are fairly consistent among tree species. However, as our study and others show, at more specific taxonomic levels, microbiomes diverge among closely related host species (Cregger et al, 2018;Rogers et al, 2018) and even among different genotypes of the same host species (Bálint et al, 2013;Veach et al, 2019).…”

Response of Soil Microbiome Structure to Biological Control Agents (BCAs) in Strawberry Greenhouse

“…However, the ecological effects of these soil amendments on strawberry cultivation needs a comprehensive evaluation, including the determination of strawberry growth, production and quality in different treatments, and even its long-term effects [10,68]. At the same time, we will consider the response of a broader range of soils with different physicochemical properties, climate types and field management practices to soil amendments [7,69]. EM and BS based studies have revealed the effects of soil amendments on bacterial community structure and symbiotic network in strawberry soil.…”

The Impact of Soil-Applied Biochars From Different Vegetal Feedstocks on Durum Wheat Plant Performance and Rhizospheric Bacterial Microbiota in Low Metal-Contaminated Soil

“…To assess the possible changes caused by biochar incorporation and/or the durum genotype to the soil microbiome, we specifically focused on the rhizosphere, which is the interface between plant roots and soil, since the microorganisms colonizing the rhizosphere may contribute to plant growth and health (Richter-Heitmann et al, 2016); moreover, different studies have already established that the rhizosphere corresponds to the plant-soil compartment harboring a higher richness (Qian et al, 2019).…”