Exploring the natural microbiome of the model liverwort: fungal endophyte diversity in Marchantia polymorpha L

Within their tissues, plants host diverse communities of fungi, termed fungal endophytes. These fungi can affect plant growth, competitiveness, and resistance to stressors, thereby influencing plant community structure. Research characterizing fungal endophyte communities has so far mostly focused on seed plants, but information on the endophytes of other plant lineages is needed to understand how plant microbiomes impact whole ecosystems and how major changes through land plant evolution have affected plant-microbe relationships. In this study, we assess the fungal endophyte community of the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha L. by both culturing and Illumina amplicon sequencing methods. We detect a very diverse fungal community that is distinct between M. polymorpha patches and only shares a few core fungi between populations across the United States. We also show low overlap in taxa detected by the different methods. This study helps build a foundation for using M. polymorpha and other Marchantia species as models for the ecology and dynamics of bryophyte microbiomes.

Duke Scholars

Author A. Jonathan Shaw Biology