Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
Soil and Water Sciences Department, North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy, FL, 32351, USA.
New Phytol. 2018 Jun;218(4):1597-1611. doi: 10.1111/nph.15092. Epub 2018 Mar 31.
Diverse plant-associated fungi are thought to have symbiotrophic and saprotrophic states because they can be isolated from both dead and living plant tissues. However, such tissues often are separated in time and space, and fungal activity at various stages of plant senescence is rarely assessed directly in fungal community studies. We used fungal ribosomal RNA metatranscriptomics to detect active fungal communities across a natural senescence gradient within wild-collected gametophytes of Dicranum scoparium (Bryophyta) to understand the distribution of active fungal communities in adjacent living, senescing and dead tissues. Ascomycota were active in all tissues across the senescence gradient. By contrast, Basidiomycota were prevalent and active in senescing and dead tissues. Several fungi were detected as active in living and dead tissues, suggesting their capacity for multi-trophy. Differences in community assembly detected by metatranscriptomics were echoed by amplicon sequencing of cDNA and compared to culture-based inferences and observation of fungal fruit bodies in the field. The combination of amplicon sequencing of cDNA and metatranscriptomics is promising for studying symbiotic systems with complex microbial diversity, allowing for the simultaneous detection of their presence and activity.
人们认为，与植物相关的真菌具有共生和腐生状态，因为它们可以从死亡和活体植物组织中分离出来。然而，这些组织通常在时间和空间上是分开的，并且在真菌群落研究中很少直接评估植物衰老各个阶段的真菌活动。我们使用真菌核糖体 RNA 宏转录组学来检测野生采集的 Dicranum scoparium (苔藓植物)配子体自然衰老梯度内的活跃真菌群落，以了解活跃真菌群落在相邻活体、衰老和死亡组织中的分布。子囊菌在衰老梯度内的所有组织中均有活性。相比之下，担子菌在衰老和死亡组织中更为普遍和活跃。一些真菌被检测为在活体和死体组织中具有活性，表明它们具有多营养的能力。宏转录组学检测到的群落组装差异通过 cDNA 扩增子测序得到了呼应，并与基于培养的推论和野外观察真菌子实体进行了比较。cDNA 扩增子测序和宏转录组学的结合有望用于研究具有复杂微生物多样性的共生系统，允许同时检测它们的存在和活性。
