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Ndinga-Muniania C, Wornson N, Fulcher MR, Borer ET, Seabloom EW, Kinkel L, May G. Cryptic functional diversity within a grass mycobiome. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287990. [PMID: 37471328 PMCID: PMC10358963 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023] Open
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cedric Ndinga-Muniania
- Plant and Microbial Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Nicholas Wornson
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Michael R Fulcher
- Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth T Borer
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Eric W Seabloom
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Linda Kinkel
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Georgiana May
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
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Younginger BS, Stewart NU, Balkan MA, Ballhorn DJ. Stable coexistence or competitive exclusion? Fern endophytes demonstrate rapid turnover favouring a dominant fungus. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:244-257. [PMID: 36218009 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Fungal endophytes are critical members of the plant microbiome, but their community dynamics throughout an entire growing season are underexplored. Additionally, most fungal endophyte research has centred on seed-reproducing hosts, while spore-reproducing plants also host endophytes and may be colonized by unique community members. In order to examine annual fungal endophyte community dynamics in a spore-reproducing host, we explored endophytes in a single population of ferns, Polystichum munitum, in the Pacific Northwest. Through metabarcoding, we characterized the community assembly and temporal turnover of foliar endophytes throughout a growing season. From these results, we selected endophytes with outsized representations in sequence data and performed in vitro competition assays. Finally, we inoculated sterile fern gametophytes with dominant fungi observed in the field and determined their effects on host performance. Sequencing demonstrated that ferns were colonized by a diverse community of fungal endophytes in newly emerged tissue, but diversity decreased throughout the season leading to the preponderance of a single fungus in later sampling months. This previously undescribed endophyte appears to abundantly colonize the host to the detriment of other microfungi. Competition assays on a variety of media types failed to demonstrate that the dominant fungus was competitive against other fungi isolated from the same hosts, and inoculation onto sterile fern gametophytes did not alter growth compared to sterile controls, suggesting its effects are not antagonistic. The presence of this endophyte in the fern population probably demonstrates a case of repeated colonization driving competitive exclusion of other fungal community members.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nathan U Stewart
- Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Mehmet A Balkan
- Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Daniel J Ballhorn
- Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
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May G, Shaw RG, Geyer CJ, Eck DJ. Do Interactions among Microbial Symbionts Cause Selection for Greater Pathogen Virulence? Am Nat 2022; 199:252-265. [DOI: 10.1086/717679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Georgiana May
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
| | - Ruth G. Shaw
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
| | - Charles J. Geyer
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
| | - Daniel J. Eck
- Department of Statistics, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820
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6
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DeMers M, May G. Habitat-scale heterogeneity maintains fungal endophyte diversity in two native prairie legumes. Mycologia 2020; 113:20-32. [PMID: 33146593 DOI: 10.1080/00275514.2020.1813487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The assembly of fungal endophyte communities within plants depends on the complex interactions of fungal taxa, their host plants, and the abiotic environment. Prairie plant communities provide a unique avenue to explore the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors affecting endophyte communities, since the historical distribution of prairies spans a broad range of temperature and precipitation, while the distances between small fragments of contemporary prairie communities may challenge the dispersal capabilities of these otherwise ubiquitous fungi. We sampled foliar fungal endophytes from two native prairie legumes, purple and white prairie clovers (Dalea purpurea and D. candida), in 17 remnant prairie sites across Minnesota in order to evaluate the relative contributions of abiotic factors, host species, and dispersal limitation to the diversity and structure of these communities. We found that similarity of communities was significantly associated with their location along a temperature and precipitation gradient, and we showed a distance-decay relationship that suggests dispersal limitations only over very large spatial scales. Although the effect of host species was small relative to these other factors, the two Dalea species maintained distinct communities within sites where they co-occur. Our results illustrate the capacity of many of these endophyte taxa to disperse over large distances and across heterogeneous biotic and abiotic environments and suggest that the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors maintains high diversity observed in endophyte communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara DeMers
- Plant and Microbial Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota , St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
| | - Georgiana May
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota , St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
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Zanne AE, Abarenkov K, Afkhami ME, Aguilar-Trigueros CA, Bates S, Bhatnagar JM, Busby PE, Christian N, Cornwell WK, Crowther TW, Flores-Moreno H, Floudas D, Gazis R, Hibbett D, Kennedy P, Lindner DL, Maynard DS, Milo AM, Nilsson RH, Powell J, Schildhauer M, Schilling J, Treseder KK. Fungal functional ecology: bringing a trait-based approach to plant-associated fungi. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 95:409-433. [PMID: 31763752 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro-organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function. Trait-based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and -omics-based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (FunFun ). FunFun is built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait-based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy E Zanne
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, U.S.A
| | - Kessy Abarenkov
- Natural History Museum, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu, 51014, Estonia
| | - Michelle E Afkhami
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, U.S.A
| | - Carlos A Aguilar-Trigueros
- Freie Universität-Berlin, Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Scott Bates
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University Northwest, Westville, IN, 46391, U.S.A
| | | | - Posy E Busby
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97330, U.S.A
| | - Natalie Christian
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, U.S.A.,Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, U.S.A
| | - William K Cornwell
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia
| | - Thomas W Crowther
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Habacuc Flores-Moreno
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, and Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Dimitrios Floudas
- Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Romina Gazis
- Department of Plant Pathology, Tropical Research & Education Center, University of Florida, Homestead, FL, 33031, U.S.A
| | - David Hibbett
- Biology Department, Clark University, Worcester, MA, 01610, U.S.A
| | - Peter Kennedy
- Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Daniel L Lindner
- US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Center for Forest Mycology Research, Madison, Wisconsin, WI, 53726, U.S.A
| | - Daniel S Maynard
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Amy M Milo
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, U.S.A
| | - Rolf Henrik Nilsson
- University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Jeff Powell
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| | - Mark Schildhauer
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, U.S.A
| | - Jonathan Schilling
- Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Kathleen K Treseder
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, U.S.A
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