Differential Tolerance to <i>Calonectria pseudonaviculata</i> of English Boxwood Plants Associated with the Complexity of Culturable Fungal and Bacterial Endophyte Communities
Isolated boxwood endophytes have been demonstrated to effectively protect boxwood plants from infection by <i>Calonectria pseudonaviculata</i> (<i>Cps</i>). However, the roles of endophytes as communities in plant defense are not clear. Here, we demonstrated differential tole...
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
MDPI AG
2021
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/9f682d1662a946329981efbb9c3b650d |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| Sumario: | Isolated boxwood endophytes have been demonstrated to effectively protect boxwood plants from infection by <i>Calonectria pseudonaviculata</i> (<i>Cps</i>). However, the roles of endophytes as communities in plant defense are not clear. Here, we demonstrated differential tolerance to <i>Cps</i> of English boxwood (<i>Buxus sempervirens</i> ‘Suffruticosa’), an iconic landscape plant and generally regarded as highly susceptible, and its link to endophyte complexity. Fifteen boxwood twig samples were collected in triplicates from three historic gardens—Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and River Farm, and Virginia Tech’s research farm in Virginia Beach in the summer and fall of 2019. A portion of individual samples was inoculated with <i>Cps</i> under controlled conditions. Significant differences in disease severity were observed among samples but not between the two seasons. Examining the endophyte cultures of the summer samples revealed that bacterial and fungal abundance was negatively and positively correlated with the disease severity. Nanopore metagenomics analysis on genomic DNA of the tolerant and susceptible group representatives confirmed the associations. Specifically, tolerant English boxwood plants had an endophyte community dominated by <i>Bacilli</i> and <i>Betaproteobacteria</i>, while susceptible ones had a distinct endophyte community dominated by <i>Gammaproteobacteria</i>, <i>Actinobacteria</i>, and diverse fungi. These findings may lead to boxwood health management innovations—devising and utilizing cultural practices to manipulate and increase the abundance and performance of beneficial endophytes for enhanced boxwood resistance to <i>Cps</i>. |
|---|