Changes in bacterial endophyte community following aspergillus flavus infection in resistant and susceptible maize kernels

Majumdar, R. and Kandel, Shyam L. and Cary, J.W. and Rajasekaran, Kanniah (2021) Changes in bacterial endophyte community following aspergillus flavus infection in resistant and susceptible maize kernels. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 22(3747):1-15. 3 April 2021.

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Abstract

Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) mediated aflatoxin contamination in maize is a major global economic and health concern. As A. flavus is an opportunistic seed pathogen, identification of factors contributing to kernel resistance will be of great importance in the development of novel mitigation strategies. Using V3–V4 bacterial rRNA sequencing and seeds of A. flavus resistant maize breeding lines TZAR102 and MI82 and a susceptible line, SC212, we investigated kernel specific changes of bacterial endophytes during infection. A total of 81 bacterial genera belonging to 10 phyla were detected. Bacteria belonging to the phylum Tenericutes comprised 86-99% of detected phyla followed by Proteobacteria (14%), and others (<5%) that changed with treatments and/or genotypes. Higher basal levels (without infection) of Streptomyces, and Microbacterium and increases in the abundance of Stenotrophomonas and Sphingomonas in the resistant lines following infection may suggest their role in resistance. Functional profiling of bacteria using 16S rRNA sequencing data revealed the presence of bacteria associated with the production of putative antifungal type II polyketides, sesquiterpenoids in the resistant vs. susceptible lines. Future characterization of endophytes predicted to possess antifungal/ anti-aflatoxigenic properties will aid in their development as effective biocontrol agents or microbiome markers for maize aflatoxin resistance.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	1702
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Corn / maize Irrigated crops > Sugarbeet > Root rots > Fungi
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	05 Apr 2021 19:51
Last Modified:	29 Mar 2022 16:20
Item ID:	1740
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1740