Understanding Cultivar-Specificity and Soil Determinants of the <i>Cannabis</i> Microbiome

Understanding microbial partnerships with the medicinally and economically important crop Cannabis has the potential to affect agricultural practice by improving plant fitness and production yield. Furthermore, Cannabis presents an interesting model to explore plant-microbiome interactions as it produces numerous secondary metabolic compounds. Here we present the first description of the endorhiza-, rhizosphere-, and bulk soil-associated microbiome of five distinct Cannabis cultivars. Bacterial communities of the endorhiza showed significant cultivar-specificity. When controlling cultivar and soil type the microbial community structure was significantly different between plant cultivars, soil types, and between the endorhiza, rhizosphere and soil. The influence of soil type, plant cultivar and sample type differentiation on the microbial community structure provides support for a previously published two-tier selection model, whereby community composition across sample types is determined mainly by soil type, while community structure within endorhiza samples is determined mainly by host cultivar.</p

Understanding cultivar-specificity and soil determinants of the cannabis microbiome.

Understanding microbial partnerships with the medicinally and economically important crop Cannabis has the potential to affect agricultural practice by improving plant fitness and production yield. Furthermore, Cannabis presents an interesting model to explore plant-microbiome interactions as it produces numerous secondary metabolic compounds. Here we present the first description of the endorhiza-, rhizosphere-, and bulk soil-associated microbiome of five distinct Cannabis cultivars. Bacterial communities of the endorhiza showed significant cultivar-specificity. When controlling cultivar and soil type the microbial community structure was significantly different between plant cultivars, soil types, and between the endorhiza, rhizosphere and soil. The influence of soil type, plant cultivar and sample type differentiation on the microbial community structure provides support for a previously published two-tier selection model, whereby community composition across sample types is determined mainly by soil type, while community structure within endorhiza samples is determined mainly by host cultivar

A unified approach to polyene macrolides: Synthesis of candidin and nystatin polyols

Polyene macrolide antibiotics are naturally occurring antifungal agents. Members of this class include amphotericin B, which has been used widely to treat systemic fungal infections. A general synthetic strategy has been devised to prepare polyol chains associated with the polyene macrolides. Cyanohydrin acetonide alkylations were used to assemble the carbon skeleton, and a simple modification of the strategy allowed an advanced intermediate to be converted to either the candidin polyol or the nystatin polyol. The candidin polyol was further elaborated to a protected candidin aglycone. This strategy will be applicable to other members of the polyene macrolide natural products

Ternary plot of distribution of bacterial taxonomic groups among sample types in the second experiment.

<p>Size of circles proportional to the log of the total abundance, taxonomic groups are all phylum-level, except for Proteobacteria, which is by class.</p

PCoA plots of microbial community similarity in first experiment for unweighted analysis (A–B) and weighted analysis (C–D).

<p>Plots for unweighted analysis are based on unweighted UniFrac distance, and demonstrate relationship between sample type (A), strain (B), and the major PC axes (PC 1 = 26.46% variance, PC 2 = 7.36% variance). Plots for weighted analysis are based on weighted UniFrac distances, and demonstrate relationship between sample type (C), strain (D), and the major PC axes (PC 1 = 62.98% variance, PC 2 = 15.43% variance). Abbreviations for strains are denoted by B (Burmese), BK (BooKoo Kush), and D (Sour Diesel).</p