Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis St, Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA.
BMC Plant Biol. 2020 Feb 17;20(1):79. doi: 10.1186/s12870-019-2185-0.
The olive tree is of particular economic interest in the Mediterranean basin. Researchers have conducted several studies on one of the most devastating disorders affecting this tree, the Verticillium wilt, which causes substantial economic losses in numerous areas. We analyzed metatranscriptomic samples taken from a previous study conducted on leaves and roots of Olea europaea that were infected with Verticillium dahliae. In addition, we also analyzed mechanically damaged roots. The aim of our approach is to describe the dynamics of the root microbiome after severe perturbations.
Our results not only describe the dynamics of the microbial community associated with the disturbance, but also show the high complexity of these systems and explain how this can lead to a conflicting assignment of the various types of parasitism observed in a specific organism.
Our findings indicate that this infection, although led by Verticillium, is driven not by a single species, but by a polymicrobial consortium that also includes natural endophytes of the olive tree. This community contains both biotrophic and necrotrophic organisms that alternate and live together during the infection. In addition, opportunistic organisms appear that take profit not from plant tissues, but from new emerging populations of microorganisms. Therefore, this system can be described as a complex biological system composed of different interacting communities. Notably, our work has important considerations when it comes to classifying the type of parasitism of a given species.
橄榄树在地中海盆地具有特殊的经济意义。研究人员对影响这种树木的最具破坏性的疾病之一进行了几项研究，即黄萎病，它在许多地区造成了巨大的经济损失。我们分析了先前对感染黄萎病菌的油橄榄叶片和根部进行的一项研究中的宏转录组样本。此外，我们还分析了机械损伤的根部。我们的方法旨在描述严重干扰后根部微生物组的动态。
我们的研究结果不仅描述了与干扰相关的微生物群落的动态，还展示了这些系统的高度复杂性，并解释了为什么这会导致对特定生物体中观察到的各种寄生类型的分配产生冲突。
我们的研究结果表明，尽管这种感染是由黄萎病菌引起的，但它不是由单一物种驱动的，而是由一个包括油橄榄天然内生菌的多微生物联合体驱动的。该群落包含兼性营养和坏死营养生物，它们在感染过程中交替存在并共同生活。此外，出现了机会主义生物，它们不是从植物组织中获益，而是从新出现的微生物种群中获益。因此，可以将该系统描述为一个由不同相互作用的群落组成的复杂生物系统。值得注意的是，我们的工作在对给定物种的寄生类型进行分类时具有重要的考虑因素。
