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Abstract
Sarracenia rosea is a carnivorous plant that uses pitchers (formed by modified leaves) to trap and digest small animals as a source of nutrients. The pitcher fluids are a microecosystem that contains diverse invertebrates and microorganisms. Six bacterial isolates from pitcher fluids of S. rosea were identified as Hafnia paralvei, marking the first discovery of H. paralvei from plants. Pan and core genome comparisons between pitcher strains and 16 non-pitcher strains of H. paralvei identified 276 genes that were in all pitcher strains but not in any other strains. Environment-impacted pathways including flagellar assembly and the type VI secretion system were found to be consistently different between pitcher and non-pitcher strains. A total of 148 genes were found to be present in some but not all pitcher strains. Diverse bacterial activities closely associated with the pitcher environment, including nitrogen metabolism and anaerobic respiration, were discovered in this intraspecific variable gene set. The study of H. paralvei strains from pitcher plants provides insights for the exploration of adaption of microbial communities within the pitcher fluids.
Puccinia emaculata is a biotrophic and parasitic fungus that causes rust disease on the leaves of the bioenergy crop switchgrass via urediniospores, resulting in decreased biomass production. P. emaculata infects switchgrass leaves by penetration. Numerous different microbes were found to be associated with urediniospores, which is not a commonly found phenomenon. The microbial communities of switchgrass inoculated and uninoculated with urediniospores were explored by plating of homogenized leaf tissues and metagenomic analysis. Microbes inside urediniospores-inoculated switchgrass leaves were more abundant than uninoculated leaves, confirming that multiple microbial species were transferred into host plant leaves during the infection of P. emaculata. Bacteria, none of which has been found to be able to penetrate the epidermis of plant leaves, from different genera were found to be transferred into switchgrass leaves during this rust infection. Interestingly, bacteria abundant on the outside of the spores were not transferred into host plant tissues.
Puccinia emaculata is a biotrophic and parasitic fungus that causes rust disease on the leaves of the bioenergy crop switchgrass via urediniospores, resulting in decreased biomass production. P. emaculata infects switchgrass leaves by penetration. Numerous different microbes were found to be associated with urediniospores, which is not a commonly found phenomenon. The microbial communities of switchgrass inoculated and uninoculated with urediniospores were explored by plating of homogenized leaf tissues and metagenomic analysis. Microbes inside urediniospores-inoculated switchgrass leaves were more abundant than uninoculated leaves, confirming that multiple microbial species were transferred into host plant leaves during the infection of P. emaculata. Bacteria, none of which has been found to be able to penetrate the epidermis of plant leaves, from different genera were found to be transferred into switchgrass leaves during this rust infection. Interestingly, bacteria abundant on the outside of the spores were not transferred into host plant tissues.