Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 215, Issue 2, Pages 737-746Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nph.14560
Keywords
bleeding canker; Cameraria ohridella; leaf miner; microbiome; pest-pathogen interactions; Pseudomonas syringae; tree health
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Funding
- John Fell Trust of Oxford University
- NERC research fellowship [NE/K00879X/1]
- Royal Society fellowship
- RAPIDD programme of the Science & Technology , Department of Homeland Security
- Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health
- NERC [NE/K00879X/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/K00879X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Host susceptibility to pathogens can be shaped by genetic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. The ability to predict the spread of disease therefore requires an integrated understanding of these factors, including effects of pests on pathogen growth and competition between pathogens and commensal microbiota for host resources. We examined interactions between the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella, the bacterial causal agent of bleeding canker disease Pseudomonas syringae pv aesculi, and the bark-associated microbiota of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) trees. Through surveys of > 900 trees from 60 sites in the UK, we tested for ecological or life history predictors of leaf miner infestation, bleeding canker, or coinfection. Using culture-independent sequencing, we then compared the bark microbiomes from 46 trees to measure the association between microbiome composition and key ecological variables, including the severity of disease. Both pest and pathogen were found to respond to tree characteristics, but neither explained damage inflicted by the other. However, we found a clear loss of microbial diversity and associated shift in microbiome composition of trees as a function of disease. These results show a link between bark-associated microbiota and tree health that introduces the intriguing possibility that tree microbiota play key roles in the spread of disease.
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