Distinct phyllosphere bacterial communities on Arabidopsis wax mutant leaves.
The phyllosphere of plants is inhabited by diverse microorganisms, however, the factors shaping their community composition are not fully elucidated. The plant cuticle represents the initial contact surface between microorganisms and the plant. We thus aimed to investigate whether mutations in the cuticular wax biosynthesis would affect the diversity of the phyllosphere microbiota. A set of four Arabidopsis thaliana eceriferum mutants (cer1, cer6, cer9, cer16) and their respective wild type (Landsberg erecta) were subjected to an outdoor growth period and analysed towards this purpose. The chemical distinctness of the mutant wax phenotypes was confirmed by gas chromatographic measurements. Next generation amplicon pyrosequencing of the bacterial communities showed distinct community patterns. This observation was supported by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis experiments. Microbial community analyses revealed bacterial phylotypes that were ubiquitously present on all plant lines (termed "core" community) while others were positively or negatively affected by the wax mutant phenotype (termed "plant line-specific" community). We conclude from this study that plant cuticular wax composition can affect the community composition of phyllosphere bacteria.
University of Würzburg, Department of Botany II, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute for Biological Sciences, Würzburg, Germany.
Eva E
EE
Reisberg
Ulrich
U
Hildebrandt
Markus
M
Riederer
Ute
U
Hentschel
D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000235:genetics; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000382:microbiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000235:genetics*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D019441:Plant Epidermis; D018515:Plant Leaves; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000235:genetics; D014885:Waxes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C101547:CER protein, Arabidopsis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D014885:Waxes; D000217:Acyltransferases; C120018:CUT1 protein, Arabidopsis; C575855:CER9 protein, Arabidopsis; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases