title: Low abundance of Archaeorhizomycetes among fungi in soil metatranscriptomes.
abstract: The Archaeorhizomycetes are recently discovered fungi with poorly resolved ecology. Even their abundance in soil fungal communities is currently disputed. Here we applied a PCR-independent, RNA-based metatranscriptomic approach to determine their abundance among fungi in eleven different soils across Europe. Using small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA transcripts as marker, we detected Archaeorhizomycetes in 17 out of 28 soil metatranscriptomes. They had average relative SSU rRNA abundance of 2.0% with a maximum of 9.4% among fungal SSU rRNAs. Network analysis revealed that they co-occur with arbuscular mycorrhizal Glomerales, which is in line with their previously suggested association with plant roots. Moreover, Archaeorhizomycetes ranked among the potential keystone taxa. This metatranscriptomic survey exemplifies the usage of non-targeted molecular approaches for the study of soil fungi. It provides PCR- and DNA-independent evidence for the low abundance of Archaeorhizomycetes in soil fungal communities, although they might be non-negligible players despite their low abundance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Choma
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bárta
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Šantrůčková
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urich
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D055137:Glomeromycota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D054892:Metagenome / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*