The Microbiome of Desert CAM Plants: Lessons From Amplicon Sequencing and Metagenomics

Functional Signatures of the Epiphytic Prokaryotic Microbiome of Agaves and Cacti

“…These plants harbor a diverse microbiome that is mainly influenced by the plant compartment and their biogeography (Coleman-Derr et al, 2016;Fonseca-García et al, 2016). The dominant prokaryotic taxa in the plant-associated microbial communities are Pseudomonadales (Proteobacteria), Actinomycetales (Actinobacteria) and Bacillales (Firmicutes), while the archaeal lineage Nitrososphaera (Thaumarchaeota) is less abundant (Citlali et al, 2018). Remarkably, estimations of microbial alpha diversity in the plant-associated communities of these desert plants revealed that the rhizosphere and phyllosphere had similar prokaryotic diversity (Desgarennes et al, 2014;Coleman-Derr et al, 2016;Fonseca-García et al, 2016;Citlali et al, 2018).…”

“…The dominant prokaryotic taxa in the plant-associated microbial communities are Pseudomonadales (Proteobacteria), Actinomycetales (Actinobacteria) and Bacillales (Firmicutes), while the archaeal lineage Nitrososphaera (Thaumarchaeota) is less abundant (Citlali et al, 2018). Remarkably, estimations of microbial alpha diversity in the plant-associated communities of these desert plants revealed that the rhizosphere and phyllosphere had similar prokaryotic diversity (Desgarennes et al, 2014;Coleman-Derr et al, 2016;Fonseca-García et al, 2016;Citlali et al, 2018). These results contrast with the patterns observed in other plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana (Bodenhausen et al, 2013), Boechera stricta (Wagner et al, 2016) and sugar cane (de Souza et al, 2016), in which the bacterial communities in the rhizosphere have a higher diversity than those in the phyllosphere.…”

Smells from the desert: Microbial volatiles that affect plant growth and development of native and non‐native plant species

“…These species belong to two taxonomically unrelated but ecologically and economically important plant families: the Asparagaceae and the Cactaceae. These species very often share the same habitat and both have independently developed morphological, physiological, and biochemical adaptations, such as the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) for photosynthesis, that allow them to survive and thrive in arid environments characterized by extreme temperatures, high UV radiation, prolonged drought periods, and low nutrient availability (Citlali, Desgarennes, Flores‐Núñez, & Partida‐Martínez, ). Noteworthy, agaves and cacti share a great proportion of their prokaryotic symbionts, and fewer, but still a significant number of their fungal partners, which together form a “core microbiome” (Citlali et al, ).…”

“…These species very often share the same habitat and both have independently developed morphological, physiological, and biochemical adaptations, such as the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) for photosynthesis, that allow them to survive and thrive in arid environments characterized by extreme temperatures, high UV radiation, prolonged drought periods, and low nutrient availability (Citlali, Desgarennes, Flores‐Núñez, & Partida‐Martínez, ). Noteworthy, agaves and cacti share a great proportion of their prokaryotic symbionts, and fewer, but still a significant number of their fungal partners, which together form a “core microbiome” (Citlali et al, ). Detailed study of this core microbiome should enable the identification of microbial functions and mechanisms on plant–microbe interaction that impact plant adaptation to arid environments (Busby et al, ).…”

“…Noteworthy, agaves and cacti share a great proportion of their prokaryotic symbionts, and fewer, but still a significant number of their fungal partners, which together form a "core microbiome" (Citlali et al, 2018). Detailed study of this core microbiome should enable the identification of microbial functions and mechanisms on plantmicrobe interaction that impact plant adaptation to arid environments (Busby et al, 2017).…”