Fungal community structure in disease suppressive soils assessed by 28S LSU gene sequencing

C. Ryan Penton, V. V S R Gupta, James M. Tiedje, Stephen M. Neate, Kathy Ophel-Keller, Michael Gillings, Paul Harvey, Amanda Pham, David K. Roget

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    112 Citations (Scopus)
    67 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Natural biological suppression of soil-borne diseases is a function of the activity and composition of soil microbial communities. Soil microbe and phytopathogen interactions can occur prior to crop sowing and/or in the rhizosphere, subsequently influencing both plant growth and productivity. Research on suppressive microbial communities has concentrated on bacteria although fungi can also influence soil-borne disease. Fungi were analyzed in co-located soils 'suppressive' or 'non-suppressive' for disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG 8 at two sites in South Australia using 454 pyrosequencing targeting the fungal 28S LSU rRNA gene. DNA was extracted from a minimum of 125 g of soil per replicate to reduce the micro-scale community variability, and from soil samples taken at sowing and from the rhizosphere at 7 weeks to cover the peak Rhizoctonia infection period. A total of ∼994,000 reads were classified into 917 genera covering 54% of the RDP Fungal Classifier database, a high diversity for an alkaline, low organic matter soil. Statistical analyses and community ordinations revealed significant differences in fungal community composition between suppressive and non-suppressive soil and between soil type/location. The majority of differences associated with suppressive soils were attributed to less than 40 genera including a number of endophytic species with plant pathogen suppression potentials and mycoparasites such as Xylaria spp. Non-suppressive soils were dominated by Alternaria , Gibberella and Penicillum. Pyrosequencing generated a detailed description of fungal community structure and identified candidate taxa that may influence pathogen-plant interactions in stable disease suppression.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbere93893
    Pages (from-to)1-12
    Number of pages12
    JournalPLoS ONE
    Volume9
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Apr 2014

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s) 2014. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Fungal community structure in disease suppressive soils assessed by 28S LSU gene sequencing'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this