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Endophytic Microbiome of Biofuel Plant Miscanthus sinensis (Poaceae) Interacts with Environmental Gradients

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Abstract

Miscanthus in Taiwan occupies a cline along altitude and adapts to diverse environments, e.g., habitats of high salinity and volcanoes. Rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria may help Miscanthus acclimate to those stresses. The relative contributions of rhizosphere vs. endosphere compartments to the adaptation remain unknown. Here, we used targeted metagenomics to compare the microbial communities in the rhizosphere and endosphere among ecotypes of M. sinensis that dwell habitats under different stresses. Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria predominated in the endosphere. Diverse phyla constituted the rhizosphere microbiome, including a core microbiome found consistently across habitats. In endosphere, the predominance of the bacteria colonizing from the surrounding soil suggests that soil recruitment must have subsequently determined the endophytic microbiome in Miscanthus roots. In endosphere, the bacterial diversity decreased with the altitude, likely corresponding to rising limitation to microorganisms according to the species-energy theory. Specific endophytes were associated with different environmental stresses, e.g., Pseudomonas spp. for alpine and Agrobacterium spp. for coastal habitats. This suggests Miscanthus actively recruits an endosphere microbiome from the rhizosphere it influences.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the Ministry of Science and Technology (106-2621-B-006-001-MY3) and National Cheng Kung University (Aim for the Top University Project) for supporting research grants.

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Correspondence to Tzen-Yuh Chiang.

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Table S1

OTU distribution table (XLSX 398 kb)

Fig. S1

Venn diagrams displaying the core microbiome shared by all individuals of Miscanthus sinensis. (A) Rhizosphere; (B) endosphere (PNG 44 kb)

Fig. S2

Relative abundance of core microbiomes in rhizosphere and endosphere of Miscanthus sinensis (PDF 78 kb)

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Huang, CL., Sarkar, R., Hsu, TW. et al. Endophytic Microbiome of Biofuel Plant Miscanthus sinensis (Poaceae) Interacts with Environmental Gradients. Microb Ecol 80, 133–144 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-019-01467-8

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