Differences in the fungal communities nursed by two genetic groups of the alpine cushion plant, Silene acaulis

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Roy, Julien, Bonneville, Jean-Marc, Saccone, Patrick, Ibanez, Sébastian, Albert, Cécile, H, Boleda, Marti, Gueguen, Maya, Ohlmann, Marc, Rioux, Delphine, Clément, Jean-Christophe, Lavergne, Sébastien, Geremia, Roberto, A.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA ), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Freie Universität Berlin, University of South Bohemia, Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Ecosystèmes Limniques (CARRTEL), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: nurse effect; community genetics; soil ecosystem engineering; fungal community; gene‐for‐gene interactions; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.GEN.GPO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; [SDV.GEN.GPL]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics/Plants genetics; Moss campion; Silene acaulis
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01930654; https://hal.science/hal-01930654/document; https://hal.science/hal-01930654/file/Roy%20et%20al%20Ecology%20and%20Evolution%202018.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4606

Accepted: 14 September 2018 International audience Foundation plants shape the composition of local biotic communities and abiotic environments , but the impact of a plant's intraspecific variations on these processes is poorly understood. We examined these links in the alpine cushion moss campion (Silene acaulis) on two neighboring mountain ranges in the French Alps. Genotyping of cushion plants revealed two genetic clusters matching known subspecies. The ex-scapa subspecies was found on both limestone and granite, while the longiscapa one was only found on limestone. Even on similar limestone bedrock, cushion soils from the two S. acaulis subspecies deeply differed in their impact on soil abiotic conditions. They further strikingly differed from each other and from the surrounding bare soils in fungal community composition. Plant genotype variations accounted for a large part of the fungal composition variability in cushion soils, even when considering geography or soil chemistry, and particularly for the dominant molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs). Both saprophytic and biotrophic fungal taxa were related to the MOTUs recurrently associated with a single plant genetic cluster. Moreover, the putative phytopathogens were abundant, and within the same genus (Cladosporium) or species (Pyrenopeziza brassicae), MOTUs showing specificity for each plant subspecies were found. Our study highlights the combined influences of bedrock and plant genotype on fungal recruitment into cushion soils and suggests the coexistence of two mechanisms, an indirect selection resulting from the coloniza-tion of an engineered soil by free-living saprobes and a direct selection resulting from direct plant-fungi interactions.