Transient leaf endophytes are the most active fungi in 1-year-old beech leaf litter

The ecological significance of fungi occurring asymptomatically inside living plant leaves is poorly understood. Given the broad saprotrophic potential of many endophytic fungi, we hypothesized that they persist in decaying litter for an extended period of time after leaf abscission. Fungal assemblages were assessed by high-throughput sequencing in autumn leaves of beech (Fagus sylvatica) and in the corresponding leaf litter in 388 samples from 22 beech forest plots in three widely distant regions of Germany. A considerable proportion of the leaf-endophytic fungi was also found in 1-year-old litter. Co-occurrence networks revealed that the fungi formed unstructured assemblages inside the living leaves, rather than well-structured communities. Previously endophytic fungi constituted an integral part of the fungal litter community and were by far the most active fungi in 1-year-old litter. We therefore consider these endophytic occurrences to represent transient stages. Composition of the aboveground microbiome appears therefore to be closely connected to the process of litter decomposition. Considering the respective linked fungal habitat will facilitate predicting nutrient and carbon cycling and storage in forest ecosystems as well as elucidating the ecology of leaf microbiomes

Resurrection and emendation of the Hypoxylaceae, recognised from a multigene phylogeny of the Xylariales

A multigene phylogeny was constructed, including a significant number of representative species of the main lineages in the Xylariaceae and four DNA loci the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the large subunit (LSU) of the nuclear rDNA, the second largest subunit of the RNA polymerase II (RPB2), and beta-tubulin (TUB2). Specimens were selected based on more than a decade of intensive morphological and chemotaxonomic work, and cautious taxon sampling was performed to cover the major lineages of the Xylariaceae; however, with emphasis on hypoxyloid species. The comprehensive phylogenetic analysis revealed a clear-cut segregation of the Xylariaceae into several major clades, which was well in accordance with previously established morphological and chemotaxonomic concepts. One of these clades contained Annulohypoxylon, Hypoxylon, Daldinia, and other related genera that have stromatal pigments and a nodulisporium-like anamorph. They are accommodated in the family Hypoxylaceae, which is resurrected and emended. Representatives of genera with a nodulisporium-like anamorph and bipartite stromata, lacking stromatal pigments (i.e. Biscogniauxia, Camillea, and Obolarina) appeared in a clade basal to the xylarioid taxa. As they clustered with Graphostroma platystomum, they are accommodated in the Graphostromataceae. The new genus Jackrogersella with J. multiformis as type species is segregated from Annulohypoxylon. The genus Pyrenopolyporus is resurrected for Hypoxylon polyporus and allied species. The genus Daldinia and its allies Entonaema, Rhopalostroma, Ruwenzoria, and Thamnomyces appeared in two separate subclades, which may warrant further splitting of Daldinia in the future, and even Hypoxylon was divided in several clades. However, more species of these genera need to be studied before a conclusive taxonomic rearrangement can be envisaged. Epitypes were designated for several important species in which living cultures and molecular data are available, in order to stabilise the taxonomy of the Xylariales.Fil: Wendt, Lucile. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Department of Microbial Drugs; Alemania. German Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Sir, Esteban Benjamin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Kuhnert, Eric. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Department of Microbial Drugs; Alemania. German Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Heitkämper, Simone. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Department of Microbial Drugs; Alemania. German Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Lambert, Christopher. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Department of Microbial Drugs; Alemania. German Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Hladki, Adriana I.. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Dirección de Botánica. Instituto de Micologia; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Andrea Irene. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Micología y Botánica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Micología y Botánica; ArgentinaFil: Luangsa-Ard, Janet Jennifer. National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; TailandiaFil: Srikitikulchai, Prasert. National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; TailandiaFil: Peršoh, Derek. Ruhr-Universität Bochum; AlemaniaFil: Stadler, Marc. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Department of Microbial Drugs; Alemania. German Centre for Infection Research; Alemani

Ectomycorrhizae of Tomentella badia: description and molecular identification

Species within the genera Tomentella are among the most important ECM in forests. However, our knowledge about their functional characteristics is still rather limited. The ectomycorrhizae of Tomentella badia on Picea abies are described here in detail and compared to the non-identified ECM Piceirhiza obscura. A pseudoparenchymatous mantle formed by epidermoid cells is covered by heaps of epidermoid cells. This mantle type is regarded as a new one and designated as mantle type R. Many cells filled with dark blue contents and/or blue granules, together with clampless hyphae, are distinct characters of these ectomycorrhizae. Molecular-phylogenetic analysis of the ITS region was used for identification

A Transcriptome—Targeting EcoChip for Assessing Functional Mycodiversity

A functional biodiversity microarray (EcoChip) prototype has been developed to facilitate the analysis of fungal communities in environmental samples with broad functional and phylogenetic coverage and to enable the incorporation of nucleic acid sequence data as they become available from large-scale (next generation) sequencing projects. A dual probe set (DPS) was designed to detect a) functional enzyme transcripts at conserved protein sites and b) phylogenetic barcoding transcripts at ITS regions present in precursor rRNA. Deviating from the concept of GeoChip-type microarrays, the presented EcoChip microarray phylogenetic information was obtained using a dedicated set of barcoding microarray probes, whereas functional gene expression was analyzed by conserved domain-specific probes. By unlinking these two target groups, the shortage of broad sequence information of functional enzyme-coding genes in environmental communities became less important. The novel EcoChip microarray could be successfully applied to identify specific degradation activities in environmental samples at considerably high phylogenetic resolution. Reproducible and unbiased microarray signals could be obtained with chemically labeled total RNA preparations, thus avoiding the use of enzymatic labeling steps. ITS precursor rRNA was detected for the first time in a microarray experiment, which confirms the applicability of the EcoChip concept to selectively quantify the transcriptionally active part of fungal communities at high phylogenetic resolution. In addition, the chosen microarray platform facilitates the conducting of experiments with high sample throughput in almost any molecular biology laboratory

Knowing your neighbourhood - the effects of Epichloë endophytes on foliar fungal assemblages in perennial ryegrass in dependence of season and land-use intensity

Epichloë endophytes associated with cool-season grass species can protect their hosts from herbivory and can suppress mycorrhizal colonization of the hosts’ roots. However, little is known about whether or not Epichloë endophyte infection can also change the foliar fungal assemblages of the host. We tested 52 grassland study sites along a land-use intensity gradient in three study regions over two seasons (spring vs. summer) to determine whether Epichloë infection of the host grass Lolium perenne changes the fungal community structure in leaves. Foliar fungal communities were assessed by Next Generation Sequencing of the ITS rRNA gene region. Fungal community structure was strongly affected by study region and season in our study, while land-use intensity and infection with Epichloë endophytes had no significant effects. We conclude that effects on non-systemic endophytes resulting from land use practices and Epichloë infection reported in other studies were masked by local and seasonal variability in this study’s grassland sites