LB 29-246 - Plant Microbiome Structure Across the Species Range of Mimulus Laciniatus

Thursday, August 10, 2023

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT

Location: ESA Exhibit Hall

Presenting Author(s)

AS

Andrea Salinas

University of California Merced, United States

Coauthor(s)

CF

Carolin Frank

University of California Merced, United States
JS

Jackie E. Shay

University of California Merced, United States

Plant microbiomes are an essential component of the plant host and are widely known to ameliorate stress response. In the California Sierra Nevada, the endemic cutleaf monkeyflower (Mimulus laciniatus) is experiencing and adapting to various levels of stress associated with climate change, however, it is unclear to what extent the M. laciniatus microbiome is engaged in responding to this stress. This study aimed to determine the monkeyflower microbiome along with their growing substrate (moss or soil) across a steep elevation gradient in the species range during the 2019 growing season. Monkeyflower plants were collected and divided into compartments subsamples (roots, shoots, soil, and moss substrate) to asses the bacterial communities of each compartment by 16S rRNA gene sequencing to answer the following: (i) Do the M. laciniatus endophyte communities differ in composition and diversity across the M. laciniatus species range, and does this composition vary by elevation? (ii) Does the M. laciniatus endophyte community differ between plant compartments (e.g. root and shoot)? (iii) Do soil and moss, from which M. laciniatus grows, serve as a source of M. laciniatus endophytes, and do soil and moss communities vary in structure across the M. laciniatus species range? The results showed that the bacterial community structure of both plant compartments and the substrate differed across the range of M. laciniatus, and that compartment strongly influenced bacterial communities. Elevation played a role in community variation, and differences in bacterial community structure could be due to local climate or metacommunity. This study highlights the importance of plant compartment and local climate or metacommunity in shaping bacterial communities along the elevation gradient of plant species.