Phylogenetic Diversity of Epiphytic Pink-Pigmented Methylotrophic Bacteria and Role in Alleviation of Abiotic Stress in Plants

Ashok, Ganapathy; Nambirajan, Guruvu; Baskaran, K.; Chandran, Viswanathan; Alexander, Xavier

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38453-1_8

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…For example, Sphingomonas has been shown to enhance the host plant immune response towards pathogenic strains of Pseudomonas [18]. Rhizobiales also contains many genera of methylotrophic bacteria that metabolise methanol and enhance plant growth by producing phytohormones, such as indole-3-acetic acid [75,76]. However, given the large strain-level functional diversity of microorganisms and that 16S rRNA gene sequence-based inference of potential functions are highly problematic, the functional roles of these core taxa remain an open question [77].…”

Section: The Mānuka Phyllosphere Core Microbiomementioning

confidence: 99%

A core phyllosphere microbiome exists across distant populations of a tree species indigenous to New Zealand

et al. 2020

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The phyllosphere microbiome is increasingly recognised as an influential component of plant physiology, yet it remains unclear whether stable host-microbe associations generally exist in the phyllosphere. Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka) is a tea tree indigenous to New Zealand, and honey derived from mānuka is widely known to possess unique antimicrobial properties. However, the host physiological traits associated with these antimicrobial properties vary widely, and the specific cause of such variation has eluded scientists despite decades of research. Notably, the mānuka phyllosphere microbiome remains uncharacterised, and its potential role in mediating host physiology has not been considered. Working within the prevailing core microbiome conceptual framework, we hypothesise that the phyllosphere microbiome of mānuka exhibits specific host association patterns congruent with those of a microbial community under host selective pressure (null hypothesis: the mānuka phyllosphere microbiome is recruited stochastically from the surrounding environment). To examine our hypothesis, we characterised the phyllosphere and associated soil microbiomes of five distinct and geographically distant mānuka populations across the North Island of New Zealand. We identified a habitat-specific and relatively abundant core microbiome in the mānuka phyllosphere, which was persistent across all samples. In contrast, non-core phyllosphere microorganisms exhibited significant variation across individual host trees and populations that was strongly driven by environmental and spatial factors. Our results demonstrate the existence of a dominant and ubiquitous core microbiome in the phyllosphere of mānuka, supporting our hypothesis that phyllosphere microorganisms of mānuka exhibit specific host association and potentially mediate physiological traits of this nationally and culturally treasured indigenous plant. In addition, our results illustrate biogeographical patterns in mānuka phyllosphere microbiomes and offer insight into factors contributing to phyllosphere microbiome assembly.

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