Abstract
Eukaryotic hosts harbor tremendously diverse microbiomes that affect host fitness and response to environmental challenges. Fungal endophytes are prominent members of plant microbiomes, but we lack information on the diversity in functional traits affecting their interactions with their host and environment. We used two culturing approaches to isolate fungal endophytes associated with the widespread, dominant prairie grass Andropogon gerardii and characterized their taxonomic diversity using rDNA barcode sequencing. A randomly chosen subset of fungi representing the diversity of each leaf was then evaluated for their use of different carbon compound resources and growth on those resources. Applying community phylogenetic analyses, we discovered that these fungal endophyte communities are comprised of phylogenetically distinct assemblages of slow- and fast-growing fungi that differ in their use and growth on differing carbon substrates. Our results demonstrate previously undescribed and cryptic functional diversity in carbon resource use and growth in fungal endophyte communities of A. gerardii.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0287990 |
| Journal | PloS one |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 7 July |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding:ThisstudywassupportedbyaNational ScienceFoundation(NSF)MacrosystemsBiology grant(NSF-DEB00037623)toco-PIsEB,ES,LK, GM.SupportwasalsoprovidedfromtheNSFLong TermEcologicalResearch(NSF-DEB-1234162and NSF-DEB-1831944toCedarCreekLTER)and ResearchCoordinationNetwork(NSF-DEB-1042132)programs.SupporttoCNMwas providedbytheNSF-DEB,aDissertation FellowshipfromtheGraduateSchoolatUniversity ofMinnesota,andfromtheGraduateProgramin PlantandMicrobialBiology.Thefundershadno roleinstudydesign,datacollectionandanalysis, decisiontopublish,orpreparationofthe manuscript.
Funding Information:
This study was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Macrosystems Biology grant (NSF-DEB 00037623) to co-PIs EB, ES, LK, GM. Support was also provided from the NSF Long Term Ecological Research (NSF-DEB-1234162 and NSF-DEB-1831944 to Cedar Creek LTER) and Research Coordination Network (NSF-DEB-1042132) programs. Support to CNM was provided by the NSF-DEB, a Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School at University of Minnesota, and from the Graduate Program in Plant and Microbial Biology. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank past and current members of the May and Kinkel Lab at the University of Minnesota for sample collection, culture isolation, and DNA sequencing, and many discussions of the conceptual basis of the study. We also thank the staff and interns at Cedar Creek LTER and the Nutrient Network (NutNet) for providing resources that contributed to results reported in this paper. We are grateful to Jeannine Cavender-Bares and Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma for fruitful discussions on the conceptual framework of community phylogenetic analyses. We thank Mara Demers, Monica Watson, Emma Daily, George Furey, Michael Travisano, Ruth Shaw, and Marlene Zuk for their valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of the manuscript. The use of any trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service. The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Publisher Copyright:
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't