Host species effects on bacterial communities associated with the fruiting bodies of Tuber species from the Sichuan Province in Southwest China

• Published in: Mycological progress Vol. 17; no. 7; pp. 833 - 840
• Main Authors: Ye, Lei, Li, Qiang, Fu, Yu, Sourzat, Pierre, Tan, Hao, Zou, Jie, Zhang, Bo, Li, Xiaolin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ascocarps; Bacteria; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Communities; Community composition; Ecology; Fruit bodies; Gene sequencing; Life Sciences; Maturity; Microbiology; Microbiomes; Next-generation sequencing; Original Article; Phylogeny; Plant Sciences; rRNA 16S; Species; Volatiles; China; Sichuan China; High-throughput sequencing; species; Bacteria
• ISSN: 1617-416X; 1861-8952
• DOI: 10.1007/s11557-018-1397-2

Tuber
species produce highly sought-after truffles and host a wide diversity and high abundance of bacteria. It has been suggested that some of these bacteria contribute to the growth, maturity, and aromatic properties of truffles. Here, we characterized and compared the microbiomes of several species of truffles from the Sichuan Province in Southwest China using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial community 16S rRNA genes. Two
T. pseudoexcavatum
ascocarp samples had relatively similar bacterial communities, as indicated by PCoA analysis. In contrast, three
T. indicum
samples collected at different maturity stages did not contain similar communities, suggesting that the maturity stage of ascocarps affects community composition in addition to host phylogenetic background. Despite the variation seen among species and maturity stages, the Proteobacteria phylum dominated all communities, which is consistent with previous studies of
Tuber
-associated bacteria. Moreover,
Bradyrhizobium
was the dominant genus in most
Tuber
ascocarps, which is also consistent with previous studies, although the functional role of this genus within truffles is unclear. Notably,
Serratia
, which are essential producers of thiophene volatiles within
T. borchii
were dominant in all of our samples. This finding supports the hypothesis that the ability to produce thiophene volatiles is widespread among these bacteria.