TY - JOUR
T1 - Are microbes growing on flowers evil? Effects of old flower microbes on fruit set in a wild ginger with one-day flowers, Alpinia japonica (Zingiberaceae)
AU - Elvira, Nuria Jiménez
AU - Ushio, Masayuki
AU - Sakai, Shoko
N1 - Publisher copyright:
© 2022 Nuria Jiménez Elvira, Masayuki Ushio, Shoko Sakai.
PY - 2022/7/20
Y1 - 2022/7/20
N2 - Flowers are colonized and inhabited by diverse microbes. Flowers have various mechanisms to suppress microbial growth, such as flower volatiles, reactive oxygen and secondary compounds. Besides, plants rapidly replace flowers that have a short lifespan, and old flowers senesce. They may contribute to avoiding adverse effects of the microbes. In this study, we investigate if the flower microbial community on old flowers impedes fruit and seed production in a wild ginger with one-day flowers. We focus on microbes on old flowers because they may be composed of microbes that would grow during flowering if the flowers did not have mechanisms to suppress microbial growth. We inoculated newly opened flowers with old flower microbes, and monitored the effects on fruit and seed set. We also assessed prokaryotic communities on the flowers using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found six bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) whose proportions were increased on the inoculated flowers. These ASVs were also found on flower buds and flowers that were bagged by net or paper during anthesis, suggesting that they had been present in small numbers prior to flowering. Fruit set was negatively associated with the proportions of these ASVs, while seed set was not. The results suggest that old flowers harbor microbial communities different from those at anthesis, and that the microbes abundant on old flowers negatively affect plant reproduction. Although it has received little attention, antagonistic microbes that rapidly proliferate on the flowers may have affected the evolution of various flower characteristics such as flower volatiles and life span.
AB - Flowers are colonized and inhabited by diverse microbes. Flowers have various mechanisms to suppress microbial growth, such as flower volatiles, reactive oxygen and secondary compounds. Besides, plants rapidly replace flowers that have a short lifespan, and old flowers senesce. They may contribute to avoiding adverse effects of the microbes. In this study, we investigate if the flower microbial community on old flowers impedes fruit and seed production in a wild ginger with one-day flowers. We focus on microbes on old flowers because they may be composed of microbes that would grow during flowering if the flowers did not have mechanisms to suppress microbial growth. We inoculated newly opened flowers with old flower microbes, and monitored the effects on fruit and seed set. We also assessed prokaryotic communities on the flowers using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found six bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) whose proportions were increased on the inoculated flowers. These ASVs were also found on flower buds and flowers that were bagged by net or paper during anthesis, suggesting that they had been present in small numbers prior to flowering. Fruit set was negatively associated with the proportions of these ASVs, while seed set was not. The results suggest that old flowers harbor microbial communities different from those at anthesis, and that the microbes abundant on old flowers negatively affect plant reproduction. Although it has received little attention, antagonistic microbes that rapidly proliferate on the flowers may have affected the evolution of various flower characteristics such as flower volatiles and life span.
KW - anthosphere
KW - flower longevity
KW - fruit set
KW - microbiome
KW - pollination
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85137770933&doi=10.3897%2fmbmg.6.84331&partnerID=40&md5=ad28f6ce591025641fa9510a2828959c
U2 - 10.3897/mbmg.6.84331
DO - 10.3897/mbmg.6.84331
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2534-9708
VL - 6
JO - Metabarcoding and Metagenomics
JF - Metabarcoding and Metagenomics
M1 - e84331
ER -