AUTHOR=Yang Fenghuan , Zhang Jie , Zhang Huaying , Ji Guanghai , Zeng Liexian , Li Yan , Yu Chao , Fernando W. G. Dilantha , Chen Wen 

TITLE=Bacterial Blight Induced Shifts in Endophytic Microbiome of Rice Leaves and the Enrichment of Specific Bacterial Strains With Pathogen Antagonism

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00963

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2020.00963

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>The endophytic microbiome plays an important role in plant health and pathogenesis. However, little is known about its relationship with bacterial blight (BB) of rice caused by <italic>Xanthomonas oryzae</italic> pv. <italic>oryzae</italic> (<italic>Xoo</italic>). The current study compared the community compositional structure of the endophytic microbiota in healthy and BB symptomatic leaves of rice through a metabarcoding approach, which revealed BB induced a decrease in the alpha-diversity of the fungal communities and an increase in the bacterial communities. BB-diseased rice leaves were enriched with saprophytic fungi that are capable of decomposing plant cell walls (<italic>e.g. Khuskia</italic> spp. and <italic>Leptosphaerulina</italic> spp.), while healthy rice leaves were found to be significantly more abundant with plant pathogens or mycotoxin-producing fungi (<italic>e.g. Fusarium</italic>, <italic>Magnaporthe</italic>, and <italic>Aspergillus</italic>). The endophytic bacterial communities of BB-diseased leaves were significantly enriched with <italic>Pantoea</italic>, <italic>Pseudomonas</italic>, and <italic>Curtobacterium</italic>, strains. <italic>Pantoea</italic> sp. isolates from BB leaves are identified as promising candidates for the biocontrol of BB for their ability to inhibit <italic>in vitro</italic> growth of <italic>Xoo</italic>, suppress the development of rice BB disease, and possess multiple PGP characteristics. Our study revealed BB-induced complexed changes in the endophytic fungal and bacterial communities of rice leaves and demonstrated that BB-associated enrichment of some endophytic bacterial taxa, <italic>e.g. Pantoea</italic> sp. isolates, may play important roles in suppressing the development of BB disease in rice.</p>