Abstract
Introduction Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating disease of wheat that causes mycotoxin contamination in grains. Diseases like FHB have traditionally been managed with integrated strategies; but this has led to a proliferation of fungicide-resistant pathogens and soil erosion while full disease control has remained elusive. Leveraging the microbiome for more sustainable management is an alternative, however, translation of promising strategies is hampered by our limited understanding of crop microbiome differences across plant development and tissue types. Methods We characterized fungal communities using amplicon sequencing across five developmental timepoints in wheat leaves and wheat heads, as well as in maize debris from the previous growing season. Samples were collected from two locations in Illinois, USA. We assessed how tissue type, site, developmental stage, and wheat variety contributed to mycobiome composition. Source–sink relationships among debris, leaves, and heads were evaluated, and taxa associated with high and low FHB conditions were identified. Network analyses were used to determine the roles of key fungal taxa in wheat head and maize debris microbiomes. Results Mycobiome composition varied strongly by tissue type, though site and developmental timepoint were also important contributors. Host variety conditionally explained mycobiome variation in wheat heads, but not in leaves or debris. We also identified debris as a major fungal source to leaves early in development, but not later—and found that leaves were never a large inoculum source to head mycobiomes at either developmental stage tested. Taxa enriched under high FHB conditions in wheat heads belonged to the Ascomycota ( Cladosporium , Pseudopithomyces ), while taxa enriched under low FHB conditions primarily belonged to the Basidiomycota ( Filobasidium, Sporobolomyces, Tilletiopsis, Entyloma ). Fusarium spp. were important nodes in wheat head and maize debris microbiome networks. Discussion This work shows that fungal movement from crop to crop across seasons, and between plant tissues within a season, shape phyllosphere microbiome dynamics and can indicate potential disease outcomes in the FHB pathosystem. As microbiome-based disease management develops alongside rapid growth in the biologicals industry and increased recognition of microbial roles in agriculture, this work highlights several promising directions. These include identifying basidiomycetous yeasts associated with low FHB, pinpointing taxa correlated with Fusarium in wheat heads and maize debris, and demonstrating that applying biocontrols to wheat leaves is unlikely to affect pathogen spread to heads. Future research should focus on controlled tests of microbe-microbe interactions and their impacts on plant immunity, disease suppression, and yield.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Wheat mycobiome composition varied strongly by tissue type.
- Taxon
- Wheat
Triticum aestivumt0 - Organ / stage
- tissue typee0
- Outcome
- Mycobiome compositione0
- Direction
- varied stronglye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mycobiome composition varied strongly by tissue type”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
Site and developmental timepoint contributed to wheat mycobiome composition.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Organ / stage
- developmental timepointe0
- Outcome
- mycobiome dynamicst0
- Direction
- important contributorse0
- Setting
- sitee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“site and developmental timepoint were also important contributors”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
Wheat host variety conditionally explained mycobiome variation in heads, but not leaves or debris.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume0
- Material
- Host varietye0
- Organ / stage
- headse0
- Outcome
- mycobiome variatione0
- Direction
- conditionally explainede0
- Qualifier
- but not in leaves or debrise0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Host variety conditionally explained mycobiome variation in wheat heads, but not in leaves or debris”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize debris was a major fungal source for wheat leaves early in development, but not later.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Organ / stage
- leavese0
- Outcome
- fungal source to leavese0
- Direction
- majore0
- Qualifier
- early in development, but not latere0
- Comparator
- maize debrise1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“debris as a major fungal source to leaves early in development, but not later”
e1“maize debris from the previous growing season”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
Wheat leaves were not a large inoculum source for head mycobiomes at either tested stage.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Organ / stage
- leavese0
- Outcome
- inoculum source to head mycobiomese0
- Direction
- never a largee0
- Qualifier
- at either developmental stage testede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“leaves were never a large inoculum source to head mycobiomes at either developmental stage tested”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
Cladosporium and Pseudopithomyces were enriched in wheat heads under high FHB conditions.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume0
- Organ / stage
- headse0
- Interactor
- Cladosporium , Pseudopithomyces
CladosporiumPseudopithomycese0other - Outcome
- Taxae0
- Direction
- enrichede0
- Qualifier
- high FHB conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Taxa enriched under high FHB conditions in wheat heads belonged to the Ascomycota ( Cladosporium , Pseudopithomyces )”
Claim · model-written summary
Filobasidium, Sporobolomyces, Tilletiopsis and Entyloma were enriched under low FHB conditions.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Interactor
- Filobasidium, Sporobolomyces, Tilletiopsis, EntylomaFilobasidiumSporobolomyces
EntylomaTilletiopsise0other - Outcome
- taxae0
- Direction
- enrichede0
- Qualifier
- low FHB conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“taxa enriched under low FHB conditions primarily belonged to the Basidiomycota ( Filobasidium, Sporobolomyces, Tilletiopsis, Entyloma )”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
Fusarium species were important nodes in wheat head and maize debris microbiome networks.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivume0
- Outcome
- important nodes in wheat head and maize debris microbiome networkse0
FusariumOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fusarium spp. were important nodes in wheat head and maize debris microbiome networks”
Claim · model-written summary
Applying biocontrols to wheat leaves is unlikely to affect pathogen spread to heads.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- applying biocontrols to wheat leavese0
- Outcome
- pathogen spread to headse0
- Qualifier
- unlikelye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“applying biocontrols to wheat leaves is unlikely to affect pathogen spread to heads”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend controlled tests of microbe interactions and effects on immunity, disease suppression and yield.
- Taxon
- WheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Outcome
- controlled tests of microbe-microbe interactions and their impacts on plant immunity, disease suppression, and yielde0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Future research should focus on controlled tests of microbe-microbe interactions and their impacts on plant immunity, disease suppression, and yield”
t0“Wheat mycobiome dynamics”