title: The impact of nectar chemical features on phenotypic variation in two related nectar yeasts.
abstract: Floral nectars become easily colonized by microbes, most often species of the ascomycetous yeast genus Metschnikowia. Although it is known that nectar composition can vary tremendously among plant species, most probably corresponding to the nutritional requirements of their main pollinators, far less is known about how variation in nectar chemistry affects intraspecific variation in nectarivorous yeasts. Because variation in nectar traits probably affects growth and abundance of nectar yeasts, nectar yeasts can be expected to display large phenotypic variation in order to cope with varying nectar conditions. To test this hypothesis, we related variation in the phenotypic landscape of a vast collection of nectar-living yeast isolates from two Metschnikowia species (M. reukaufii and M. gruessii) to nectar chemical traits using non-linear redundancy analyses. Nectar yeasts were collected from 19 plant species from different plant families to include as much variation in nectar chemical traits as possible. As expected, nectar yeasts displayed large variation in phenotypic traits, particularly in traits related to growth performance in carbon sources and inhibitors, which was significantly related to the host plant from which they were isolated. Total sugar concentration and relative fructose content significantly explained the observed variation in the phenotypic profile of the investigated yeast species, indicating that sugar concentration and composition are the key traits that affect phenotypic variation in nectarivorous yeasts.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Biology Department, Plant Population and Conservation Biology, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium maribel.pozoromero@bio.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: María I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Pozo
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Plant Biology, Biology Department, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Van den Ende
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, Laboratory for Systems Biology & Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics (CMPG) Laboratory for Genetics and Genomics, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M2S), KU Leuven, Gaston Geenslaan 1, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Verstrepen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management, Cluster for Bioengineering Technology (CBeT), Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M2S), KU Leuven, Campus De Nayer, Fortsesteenweg 30 A, B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Biology Department, Plant Population and Conservation Biology, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacquemyn
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D055163:Metschnikowia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010641:Phenotype; D057048:Plant Nectar / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D054817:Pollination
chemical_list: D057048:Plant Nectar
keywords: Metschnikowia; floral nectar; high-throughput; phenotypic landscape