Vaughn Stephanie N, Eckard Elizabeth M, Kota Venkat K, Luber Kurre T, Jackson Colin R
Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
Microorganisms. 2024 Dec 11;12(12):2546. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12122546.
The phyllosphere (aerial plant surfaces colonized by microorganisms) remains an understudied ecosystem in terms of bacterial biogeography, particularly at intermediate or local spatial scales. This study characterized the phyllosphere bacterial community on the leaves of 87 trees sampled throughout a small town, encompassing an area of approximately 60 km. Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene revealed the dominant bacterial phyla to be Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteria, consistent with other studies of the phyllosphere. There was a small but significant relationship between the phyllosphere community similarity and the distance between the trees (i.e., trees further apart were more likely to have dissimilar bacterial communities). There was also a relationship between the assigned categories of tree height (low, medium, high) and the phyllosphere bacterial community composition, with the trees in the high category having more diverse bacterial communities on their leaves than the shorter trees. This study provides insight into the relationship between phyllosphere community composition and host tree characteristics and shows that the distance between trees has a significant, albeit low, influence on bacterial composition. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of phyllosphere microbiome biogeography, highlighting how individual tree characteristics and spatial proximity shape phyllosphere bacterial communities.
叶际（被微生物定殖的植物表面）在细菌生物地理学方面仍然是一个研究不足的生态系统，特别是在中等或局部空间尺度上。本研究对一个小镇上采样的87棵树的叶片上的叶际细菌群落进行了表征，该小镇面积约60平方公里。16S核糖体RNA基因测序显示，优势细菌门为变形菌门、拟杆菌门和酸杆菌门，这与叶际的其他研究结果一致。叶际群落相似性与树木之间的距离存在微弱但显著的关系（即距离较远的树木更有可能拥有不同的细菌群落）。树木高度的分类（低、中、高）与叶际细菌群落组成之间也存在关系，高类别的树木叶片上的细菌群落比矮树的细菌群落更加多样。本研究深入探讨了叶际群落组成与宿主树木特征之间的关系，并表明树木之间的距离对细菌组成有显著影响，尽管影响程度较低。这些发现有助于更深入地理解叶际微生物组生物地理学，突出了个体树木特征和空间邻近性如何塑造叶际细菌群落。
