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Lookup NU author(s): Mirjam Seeliger, Emeritus Professor Neil GrayORCiD, Dr Leo RempelosORCiD, Dr Paul BilsborrowORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2024.Background: Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) are the most widespread terrestrial symbiosis and are both a key determinant of plant health and a major contributor to ecosystem processes through their role in biogeochemical cycling. Until recently, it was assumed that the fungi which form AM comprise the subphylum Glomeromycotina (G-AMF), and our understanding of the diversity and ecosystem roles of AM is based almost exclusively on this group. However recent evidence shows that fungi which form the distinctive 'fine root endophyte’ (FRE) AM morphotype are members of the subphylum Mucoromycotina (M-AMF), so that AM symbioses are actually formed by two distinct groups of fungi. Results: We investigated the influence of nitrogen (N) addition and wheat variety on the assembly of AM communities under field conditions. Visual assessment of roots showed co-occurrence of G-AMF and M-AMF, providing an opportunity to compare the responses of these two groups. Existing ‘AM’ 18S rRNA primers which co-amplify G-AMF and M-AMF were modified to reduce bias against Mucoromycotina, and compared against a new ‘FRE’ primer set which selectively amplifies Mucoromycotina. Using the AM-primers, no significant effect of either N-addition or wheat variety on G-AMF or M-AMF diversity or community composition was detected. In contrast, using the FRE-primers, N-addition was shown to reduce M-AMF diversity and altered community composition. The ASV which responded to N-addition were closely related, demonstrating a clear phylogenetic signal which was identified only by the new FRE-primers. The most abundant Mucoromycotina sequences we detected belonged to the same Endogonales clades as dominant sequences associated with FRE morphology in Australia, indicating that closely related M-AMF may be globally distributed. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the need to consider both G-AMF and M-AMF when investigating AM communities, and highlight the importance of primer choice when investigating AMF community dynamics.
Author(s): Seeliger M, Hilton S, Muscatt G, Walker C, Bass D, Albornoz F, Standish RJ, Gray ND, Mercy L, Rempelos L, Schneider C, Ryan MH, Bilsborrow PE, Bending GD
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Environmental Microbiome
Year: 2024
Volume: 19
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 18/09/2024
Acceptance date: 09/09/2024
Date deposited: 01/10/2024
ISSN (electronic): 2524-6372
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-024-00617-x
DOI: 10.1186/s40793-024-00617-x
Data Access Statement: The raw sequence datasets and metadata reported in this study are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under BioProject ID PRJNA1026851. The ASV sequences are deposited in the NCBI GenBank database under SUB13873553 (AM primers) and SUB13873261 (FRE primers).
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