Deep sequencing across multiple host species tests pine-endophyte specificity

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Mycology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Foliar fungal endophytes exhibit varied distributions, suggesting specialized ecologies and host adaptations.
• Understanding endophyte specialization requires broad host sampling, increasingly feasible with high-throughput sequencing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess host specialization of the endophytic genus Lophodermium in six co-occurring pine species.
• To evaluate the efficacy of amplicon sequencing for identifying fungal endophyte communities and host specificity patterns.

Main Methods:

• Utilized amplicon sequencing to identify fungal endophytic communities in six pine (Pinus) species.
• Focused on the genus Lophodermium to test for site and host specialization patterns.

Main Results:

• Amplicon sequencing analyzed more samples and recovered more unique Lophodermium taxa than traditional culturing.
• Patterns of host specialization were not better supported by amplicon sequencing compared to culturing methods.

Conclusions:

• Amplicon sequencing enables rapid, large-scale surveys for identifying potential host specificity patterns.
• Limitations exist in quantifying the intimacy of endophytic relationships using amplicon sequencing.