Microbial influencers and cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) susceptibility: a network perspective

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Plant Pathology
• Network Science

Background:

• Plant viruses, such as cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), disrupt plant microbial ecosystems.
• Understanding these complex microbial interactions is crucial for plant health and disease resistance.
• Current microbiome research faces limitations in analytical depth and identifying influential microbial players.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify influential microbial nodes within the rhizospheric and phyllospheric networks of cotton varieties with varying resistance to cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD).
• To apply network science metrics, including Integrated View of Influence (IVI), to analyze microbial community structures.
• To elucidate the role of microbial communities in mediating plant responses to viral diseases.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of microbial communities in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of cotton varieties susceptible, partially tolerant, and resistant to CLCuD.
• Application of network science centrality measures and the Integrated View of Influence (IVI) metric.
• Identification of keystone microbial species based on hubness, spreading scores, and IVI.

Main Results:

• The CLCuD-resistant Gossypium arboreum variety exhibits a balanced distribution of keystone species, contributing to its resilience.
• In resistant cotton, influential microbial nodes are predominantly in the phyllosphere; in susceptible cotton, they are in the rhizosphere.
• Specific keystone species were identified for each cotton variety, including Actinokineospora and Cohnella in resistant, Elusimicrobia and Dyella in partially tolerant, and Georginia and Nesterenkonia in susceptible varieties.

Conclusions:

• Microbial community structure and the identification of keystone species are critical for understanding plant responses to viral diseases like CLCuD.
• The location of influential microbial nodes (rhizosphere vs. phyllosphere) differs between resistant and susceptible cotton varieties.
• This research provides a framework for deciphering microbially mediated disease resistance in plants.