Clearing the noise: seasonal dynamics of endophytic bacteria in Fagus sylvatica leaves revealed by application of PNA clampsShow others and affiliations
2026 (English)In: Physiologia Plantarum, ISSN 0031-9317, E-ISSN 1399-3054, Vol. 178, no 3, article id e70897Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The characterization of the seasonal dynamics of endophytic bacteria in beech leaves can be hindered by co-amplification of chloroplast and mitochondrial plant DNA. This study applies established peptide nucleic acid (PNA) clamps to suppress host-derived amplification while resolving bacterial succession across the vegetative season. Chloroplast- and mitochondrion-specific PNAs inverted the proportion of host to bacterial reads, enabled the recovery of bacterial sequence variants, and increased alpha diversity accordingly. Beta-diversity analyses showed that, once host contamination was removed, samples displayed a clear seasonal trajectory. Early-season leaves contained high abundances of Pseudomonas together with taxa likely introduced through plant–insect–microbe interactions. As leaves matured, the microbiome shifted toward a more stable composition dominated by well-established genera. The transition from early transient taxa to the later enrichment of phyllosphere-adapted and nutrient-cycling genera demonstrates that beech leaves host a temporally structured microbiome shaped by leaf development and seasonal environmental stress.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2026. Vol. 178, no 3, article id e70897
Keywords [en]
endophytes, Fagus sylvatica, metabarcoding, microbiome, PNA clamps
National Category
Botany Microbiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-252846DOI: 10.1111/ppl.70897ISI: 001748406100001PubMedID: 42036304Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105036874215OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-252846DiVA, id: diva2:2062119
Funder
Wallenberg Foundations2026-05-252026-05-252026-05-25Bibliographically approved