Endophytic and epiphytic metabarcoding reveals fungal communities on cashew phyllosphere in Kenya
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Date
2024-06-17
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PLUS ONE
Abstract
Plants intimately coexist with diverse taxonomically structured microbial communities that
influence host health and productivity. The coexistence of plant microbes in the phyllosphere benefits biodiversity maintenance, ecosystem function, and community stability.
However, differences in community composition and network structures of phyllosphere epiphytic and endophytic fungi are widely unknown. Using Illumina Miseq sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S rRNA gene amplicons, we characterised the epiphytic
and endophytic fungal communities associated with cashew phyllosphere (leaf, flower and
fruit) from Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu counties in Kenya. The ITS and 28S rRNA gene
sequences were clustered into 267 and 108 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at 97%
sequence similarity for both the epiphytes and endophytes. Phylum Ascomycota was abundant followed by Basidiomycota, while class Saccharomycetes was most dominant followed
by Dothideomycetes. The major non-ascomycete fungi were associated only with class Tremellales. The fungal communities detected had notable ecological functions as saprotrophs
and pathotrophs in class Saccharomyectes and Dothideomycetes. The community composition of epiphytic and endophytic fungi significantly differed between the phyllosphere
organs which was statistically confirmed by the Analysis of Similarity test (ANOSIM Statistic
R: 0.3273, for 28S rRNA gene and ANOSIM Statistic R: 0.3034 for ITS). The network analysis revealed that epiphytic and endophytic structures were more specialized, modular and
had less connectance. Our results comprehensively describe the phyllosphere cashewassociated fungal community and serve as a foundation for understanding the host-specific
microbial community structures among cashew trees.
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