Foliar mycobiome remains unaltered under urban air-pollution but differentially express stress-related genes

• Published in: Microbial ecology Vol. 87; no. 1; p. 72
• Main Authors: Flores-Almaraz, Valeria Stephany, Truong, Camille, Hernández-Oaxaca, Diana, Reyes-Galindo, Verónica, Mastretta-Yanes, Alicia, Jaramillo-Correa, Juan Pablo, Salas-Lizana, Rodolfo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abies religiosa; Air pollution; Air Pollution - adverse effects; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cities; Composition; Ecology; Feasibility studies; Forest ecosystems; Fungi; Fungi - classification; Fungi - genetics; Fungi - isolation & purification; Gene expression; Genes; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Life Sciences; Mexico; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Mycobiome; Nature Conservation; Nucleotide sequence; Oxidation resistance; Oxidative stress; Ozone; Pine needles; Plant Leaves - microbiology; Plant tissues; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Stress, Physiological; Taxonomy; Terrestrial ecosystems; Troposphere; Urban areas; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Mexico; Metabarcoding; Oxidative stress; Metatranscriptomics; Tropospheric ozone; Foliar endophytes; Abies religiosa
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00248-024-02387-y

Air pollution caused by tropospheric ozone contributes to the decline of forest ecosystems; for instance, sacred fir,
Abies religiosa
(Kunth) Schltdl. & Cham. forests in the peri-urban region of Mexico City. Individual trees within these forests exhibit variation in their response to ozone exposure, including the severity of visible symptoms in needles. Using RNA-Seq metatranscriptomic data and ITS2 metabarcoding, we investigated whether symptom variation correlates with the taxonomic and functional composition of fungal mycobiomes from needles collected in this highly polluted area in the surroundings of Mexico City. Our findings indicate that ozone-related symptoms do not significantly correlate with changes in the taxonomic composition of fungal mycobiomes. However, genes coding for 30 putative proteins were differentially expressed in the mycobiome of asymptomatic needles, including eight genes previously associated with resistance to oxidative stress. These results suggest that fungal communities likely play a role in mitigating the oxidative burst caused by tropospheric ozone in sacred fir. Our study illustrates the feasibility of using RNA-Seq data, accessible from global sequence repositories, for the characterization of fungal communities associated with plant tissues, including their gene expression.