Chinese chestnut yellow crinkle disease influence microbiota composition of chestnut trees

Candidatus-phytoplasma castaneae has been found as the causal agent of the Chinese chestnut yellow crinkle disease. However, the ecological impact of the disease on microbiota of chestnut trees is unknown.

The study aim was to clarify difference attributes in microbial community structure of asymptomatic and symptomatic chestnut leaves and twigs for chestnut tree health in orchard.

Sample collections were conducted with both symptomatic and asymptomatic chestnut trees. Total DNA was extracted. Fungal ITS rDNA and bacterial 16S rDNA were amplified. The PCR products were sequenced with Illumina HiSeq. Platform.

A total number of 852 fungal and 1156 bacterial OTUs (operational taxonomic units) were detected. The asymptomatic samples had a higher fungal and bacterial diversity than symptomatic ones. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showed microbial communities among symptomatic and asymptomatic leaves and twigs samples formed individual cluster. Overall, Ascomycota and Proteobacteria were the most abundant fungal and bacterial phyla, respectively. Significantly different taxa playing key roles for each microbiota structure were identified. In symptomatic trees, microbial groups of plant pathogens were more abundant.

Our results demonstrated that the phytoplasma pathogen may exert significant influence on the microbial community structure. The study will provide further fundamental clues for the little studied phytoplasma pathogens effects on host microbiota, phytoplasma pathogen control strategies.