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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.02.26.432829

A fungal powdery mildew pathogen induces extensive local and marginal systemic changes in the Arabidopsis thaliana microbiota

Duran, P.·Reinstaedler, A.·Rajakrut, A. L.·Hashimoto, M.·Garrido-Oter, R.·Schulze-Lefert, P.·Panstruga, R.
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Abstract

O_LIPowdery mildew is a foliar disease caused by epiphytically growing obligate biotrophic ascomycete fungi. How powdery mildew colonization affects host resident microbial communities locally and systemically remains poorly explored. C_LIO_LIWe performed powdery mildew (Golovinomyces orontii) infection experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana grown in either natural soil or a gnotobiotic system and studied the influence of pathogen invasion into standing natural multi-kingdom or synthetic bacterial communities (SynComs). C_LIO_LIWe found that after infection of soil-grown plants, G. orontii outcompetes numerous resident leaf-associated fungi. We further detected a significant shift in foliar but not root-associated bacterial communities in this setup. Pre-colonization of germ-free A. thaliana leaves with a bacterial leaf-SynCom, followed by G. orontii invasion, induced an overall similar shift in the foliar bacterial microbiota and minor changes in the root-associated bacterial assemblage. However, a standing root SynCom in root samples remained robust against foliar infection with G. orontii. Although pathogen growth was unaffected by the leaf SynCom, fungal infection caused a more than two-fold increase in leaf bacterial load. C_LIO_LIOur findings indicate that G. orontii infection affects mainly microbial communities in local plant tissue, possibly driven by pathogen-induced changes in source-sink relationships and host immune status. C_LI

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Duran, P., Reinstaedler, A., Rajakrut, A. L., Hashimoto, M., Garrido-Oter, R., Schulze-Lefert, P., Panstruga, R.. 2021-02-27. A fungal powdery mildew pathogen induces extensive local and marginal systemic changes in the Arabidopsis thaliana microbiota. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.26.432829

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