Apple twig microbiome
We combined the knowledge on the metataxonomic profile with quantitative data on the pathogen Neonectria ditissimas' branch colonization (with relative abundances and absolute TaqMan qPCR concentrations) to identify taxa that show negative or positive correlations with N. ditissima DNA concentration. Secondly, we compared our fungal metataxonomic profile to the ITS amplicons of fungal isolates that had been tested for biocontrol potential in bioassays in a previous study. The aim was to possibly link fungal taxa with proven efficacy against the pathogen to the microbiome composition.