Contrasting patterns of microbial dominance in the Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere
Abstract
Although Sphingomonas is often the most abundant bacterial taxon on many plant species, plant-associated members of this genus have not been studied in a comprehensive and ecologically rooted manner. Through sequencing hundreds of Sphingomonas genomes from Arabidopsis thaliana and other plants, 16S rRNA gene amplicon surveys, bulk metagenomes of cultured Sphingomonas, and comparisons and competition studies with local Pseudomonas, we show that Sphingomonas on wild plants establish consistently abundant and diverse populations that may include pathogen-suppressive members. Their success in the phyllosphere may depend on occupying different niches than Pseudomonas, or on a functioning plant immune system, as they are quickly outcompeted by Pseudomonas when forced into the same spatial location in macerated leaves.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2022PNAS..11911881L