4.8 Article

Specificity of assemblage, not fungal partner species, explains mycorrhizal partnerships of mycoheterotrophic Burmannia plants

Journal

ISME JOURNAL
Volume 15, Issue 6, Pages 1614-1627

Publisher

SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-00874-x

Keywords

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Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [31600185, 31970206]
  2. Science and Technology Basic Work of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2013FY111200]

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Through high-throughput DNA sequencing, it was found that fully mycoheterotrophic species of Burmannia are more specialized in their fungal associations than chlorophyllous species. Although many fungal species were shared by different Burmannia species, fully mycoheterotrophic species typically host species-specific fungal assemblages, indicating a preference for selected fungi.
Mycoheterotrophic plants (MHPs) growing on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) usually maintain specialized mycorrhizal associations. The level of specificity varies between MHPs, although it remains largely unknown whether interactions with mycorrhizal fungi differ by plant lineage, species, and/or by population. Here, we investigate the mycorrhizal interactions among Burmannia species (Burmanniaceae) with different trophic modes using high-throughput DNA sequencing. We characterized the inter- and intraspecific dynamics of the fungal communities by assessing the composition and diversity of fungi among sites. We found that fully mycoheterotrophic species are more specialized in their fungal associations than chlorophyllous species, and that this specialization possibly results from the gradual loss of some fungal groups. In particular, although many fungal species were shared by different Burmannia species, fully MHP species typically host species-specific fungal assemblages, suggesting that they have a preference for the selected fungi. Although no apparent cophylogenetic relationship was detected between fungi and plants, we observe that evolutionarily closely related plants tend to have a greater proportion of shared or closely related fungal partners. Our findings suggest a host preference and specialization toward fungal assemblages in Burmannia, improving understanding of interactions between MHPs and fungi.

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