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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1118-1128, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1118-1128.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Only a Few Fungal Species Dominate Highly Diverse Mycofloras Associated with the Common Reed

Karin Neubert,1 Kurt Mendgen,1 Henner Brinkmann,2 and Stefan G. R. Wirsel3*

Lehrstuhl Phytopathologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany,1 Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C3J7, Canada,2 Institut für Pflanzenzüchtung und Pflanzenschutz, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Ludwig-Wucherer-Str. 2, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany3

Received 4 August 2005/ Accepted 11 November 2005

Plants are naturally colonized by many fungal species that produce effects ranging from beneficial to pathogenic. However, how many of these fungi are linked with a single host plant has not been determined. Furthermore, the composition of plant-associated fungal communities has not been rigorously determined. We investigated these essential issues by employing the perennial wetland reed Phragmites australis as a model. DNA extracted from roots, rhizomes, stems, and leaves was used for amplification and cloning of internal transcribed spacer rRNA gene fragments originating from reed-associated fungi. A total of 1,991 clones from 15 clone libraries were differentiated by restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses into 345 operational taxonomical units (OTUs). Nonparametric estimators for total richness (Chao1 and ACE) and also a parametric log normal model predicted a total of about 750 OTUs if the libraries were infinite. Sixty-two percent of the OTUs sequenced were novel at a threshold of 3%. Several of these OTUs represented undocumented fungal species, which also included higher taxonomic levels. In spite of the high diversity of the OTUs, the mycofloras of vegetative organs were dominated by just a few typical fungi, which suggested that competition and niche differentiation influence the composition of plant-associated fungal communities. This suggestion was independently supported by the results of nested PCR assays specifically monitoring two OTUs over 3 years, which revealed significant preferences for host habitat and host organ.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Pflanzenzüchtung und Pflanzenschutz, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Ludwig-Wucherer-Str. 2, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany. Phone: 49 (0)345 5522672. Fax: 49 (0)345 5527120. E-mail: stefan.wirsel{at}landw.uni-halle.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1118-1128, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1118-1128.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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