Molecular characterization of root-associated fungal communities in relation to health status of Pisum sativum using barcoded pyrosequencing

Root-associated fungi are known to be important for plant health and nutrition, but only few studies have addressed their diversity in relation to plant health status. Fungal diversity in roots of healthy and diseased Pisum sativum plants was examined in terms of barcoded pyrosequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1. The CLOTU program was used for filtering and clustering of sequences, and Chao 1 estimator was used to calculate fungal richness. Principal component analyses (PCA) showed that the structure of root-associated fungal communities differed between sites and a clear relationship between root-associated fungal communities and plant health status was found. For example, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus caledonium was prevalent in roots of healthy plants, whereas the pathogenic fungus Phoma sojicola was prevalent in roots of diseased plants. The present study revealed clear differences in composition of root-associated fungi from four field sites, and correlations between abundance of several root-associated fungi and plant health status were found.