Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance

Phyllosphere colonizers, including bacteria and fungi, are critical for plant growth and health. However, how they are affected simultaneously by the host plant cultivar, local environment, and agricultural practices was not well understood. We used boxwood, an iconic landscape plant and a major eve...

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Main Authors: Xiaoping Li, Jerry E. Weiland, Mana Ohkura, Douglas G. Luster, Margery L. Daughtrey, Fred E. Gouker, Gloria Chen, Ping Kong, Chuanxue Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The American Phytopathological Society 2024-12-01
Series:PhytoFrontiers
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Online Access:https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PHYTOFR-03-24-0023-R
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author Xiaoping Li
Jerry E. Weiland
Mana Ohkura
Douglas G. Luster
Margery L. Daughtrey
Fred E. Gouker
Gloria Chen
Ping Kong
Chuanxue Hong
author_facet Xiaoping Li
Jerry E. Weiland
Mana Ohkura
Douglas G. Luster
Margery L. Daughtrey
Fred E. Gouker
Gloria Chen
Ping Kong
Chuanxue Hong
author_sort Xiaoping Li
collection DOAJ
description Phyllosphere colonizers, including bacteria and fungi, are critical for plant growth and health. However, how they are affected simultaneously by the host plant cultivar, local environment, and agricultural practices was not well understood. We used boxwood, an iconic landscape plant and a major evergreen shrub crop in the United States nursery industry, as a model plant and sequenced 16S rRNA and ITS amplicons to examine the assemblages of endophytic bacteria and fungi in the shoots of four cultivars representing three levels of boxwood blight resistance under two distinct climates and production systems in Oregon and Virginia. Cultivar and local environment were the two main drivers shaping the composition and structure of the boxwood endophytic microbial community, particularly the fungal community. Three bacterial and seven fungal genera were consistently identified with high prevalence and abundance as the core taxa from four cultivars and two locations across three sampling times. The microbial composition varied among the levels of boxwood blight resistance, and taxa specific to the tolerant cultivar were fewer compared to the susceptible one. Identification of these microbial indicators, along with the core taxa, is foundational for developing a microbiome-based plant breeding program and a systems approach to improve boxwood health and production under a changing climate. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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spelling doaj-art-d18fde24ded3426596228b609e93151a2025-08-20T02:39:15ZengThe American Phytopathological SocietyPhytoFrontiers2690-54422024-12-014460261510.1094/PHYTOFR-03-24-0023-RCultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight ResistanceXiaoping Li0Jerry E. Weiland1Mana Ohkura2Douglas G. Luster3Margery L. Daughtrey4Fred E. Gouker5Gloria Chen6Ping Kong7Chuanxue Hong8Hampton Roads Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Virginia Beach, VA 23455Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Corvallis, OR 97330Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, USDA-ARS-NEA, Fort Detrick, MD 21702Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center, Cornell University, Riverhead, NY 11901Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit, U.S. National Arboretum, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705Hampton Roads Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Virginia Beach, VA 23455Hampton Roads Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Virginia Beach, VA 23455Hampton Roads Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Virginia Beach, VA 23455Phyllosphere colonizers, including bacteria and fungi, are critical for plant growth and health. However, how they are affected simultaneously by the host plant cultivar, local environment, and agricultural practices was not well understood. We used boxwood, an iconic landscape plant and a major evergreen shrub crop in the United States nursery industry, as a model plant and sequenced 16S rRNA and ITS amplicons to examine the assemblages of endophytic bacteria and fungi in the shoots of four cultivars representing three levels of boxwood blight resistance under two distinct climates and production systems in Oregon and Virginia. Cultivar and local environment were the two main drivers shaping the composition and structure of the boxwood endophytic microbial community, particularly the fungal community. Three bacterial and seven fungal genera were consistently identified with high prevalence and abundance as the core taxa from four cultivars and two locations across three sampling times. The microbial composition varied among the levels of boxwood blight resistance, and taxa specific to the tolerant cultivar were fewer compared to the susceptible one. Identification of these microbial indicators, along with the core taxa, is foundational for developing a microbiome-based plant breeding program and a systems approach to improve boxwood health and production under a changing climate. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PHYTOFR-03-24-0023-Rboxwood managementdisease resistanceendophytesgeoclimatephytobiomesplant genotypes
spellingShingle Xiaoping Li
Jerry E. Weiland
Mana Ohkura
Douglas G. Luster
Margery L. Daughtrey
Fred E. Gouker
Gloria Chen
Ping Kong
Chuanxue Hong
Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
PhytoFrontiers
boxwood management
disease resistance
endophytes
geoclimate
phytobiomes
plant genotypes
title Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
title_full Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
title_fullStr Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
title_full_unstemmed Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
title_short Cultivars and Production Environments Shape Shoot Endophyte Profiles of Boxwood with Different Blight Resistance
title_sort cultivars and production environments shape shoot endophyte profiles of boxwood with different blight resistance
topic boxwood management
disease resistance
endophytes
geoclimate
phytobiomes
plant genotypes
url https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PHYTOFR-03-24-0023-R
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