Reassociation with a specialist insect reshapes an invader leaf fungal
community
- Lifeng Zhou,
- Yige Zhao,
- Bernhard Schmid,
- Arjen Biere,
- Lin Jiang,
- Hongwei Yu,
- Mengqi Wang,
- Wandong Yin,
- Yu Shi,
- Jianqing Ding
Abstract
Foliar herbivory is known to directly affect phyllosphere microbiomes
through altering plant phenotypes. However, how plant evolutionary
responses to herbivory shape phyllosphere microbiomes is unclear. Here
we use different invasive populations of the plant Ambrosia
artemisiifolia that vary in reassociation timespan with a native
specialist herbivore, to test whether renewed selection imposed by the
herbivore is accompanied by evolutionary shifts in leaf chemistry and
correlated changes in phyllosphere microbial communities. In common
garden experiments we found directional changes in phyllosphere fungal
communities with increasing duration of reassociation, accompanied by
increased phyllosphere fungal alpha diversity and community complexity.
These changes were associated with shifts in concentrations of plant
metabolites, expression levels of their underlying biosynthetic genes,
and increased plant herbivore resistance. Invasive plant reassociation
with specialist insects can thus reshape phyllosphere fungal communities
via changes in plant chemistry, demonstrating the role of plant
evolutionary responses to herbivores in modulating microbial
communities.