Functional Signatures of the Epiphytic Prokaryotic Microbiome of Agaves and Cacti
Víctor M. Flores‐Núñez, Citlali Fonseca-García, Damaris Desgarennes, Emiley A. Eloe‐Fadrosh, Tanja Woyke, Laila P. Partida‐Martínez
Abstract
) in the phyllosphere, while photosystem genes were widespread in Bacillales and Cyanobacteria. Nitrogen fixation and biofilm formation genes were mostly related to Proteobacteria. These analyses support the idea of niche differentiation in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of agaves and cacti and shed light on the potential mechanisms by which epiphytic microbial communities survive and colonize plants of arid and semiarid ecosystems. This study establishes a guideline for testing the relevance of the identified functional traits on the microbial community and the plant fitness.
Topics & Concepts
Anoxygenic photosynthesisPhyllosphereBiologyRhizosphereProteobacteriaHolobiontPhototrophFirmicutesBotanyActinobacteriaEcologySymbiosisPhotosynthesisBacteriaGenetics16S ribosomal RNABotanical Research and ApplicationsBiocrusts and Microbial EcologyMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology