Molecular Functional Diversity of Foliar Endophytic Fungi and Their Contributions to Seedling Survival in a Subtropical Forest

IF 7.7 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecology Letters Pub Date : 2025-12-11 DOI:10.1111/ele.70290

Baocai Han, Yunquan Wang, Sirong Zhang, Xiangcheng Mi, Lei Chen, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma, Yu Liang

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Abstract

Plant-microbe interactions are critical in shaping forest dynamics, yet the molecular functions through which foliar endophytic fungi (FEF) influence seedling survival and coexistence remain unresolved. By combining FEF transcriptomics with seedling dynamics in a subtropical forest, we tested whether FEF molecular functions regulate seedling survival via host fitness differences and niche differentiation under modern coexistence theory. We found that FEF transcript diversity was strongly associated with host divergence time and maximum height, and FEF functions significantly enhanced seedling survival through fitness-related and niche-related processes. Among these FEF functions, gene ontology (GO) terms with high host-phylogeny dependence enhance seedling survival through fitness differences associated with multi-organism interactions, while those with high host-trait dependence enhance seedling survival through niche differentiation related to basic life processes. Our findings establish a bridge between microbial functional genomics and modern coexistence theory in natural forests.

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亚热带森林叶片内生真菌的分子功能多样性及其对幼苗存活的贡献

植物与微生物的相互作用对森林动态的形成至关重要，但叶面内生真菌（FEF）影响幼苗生存和共存的分子功能仍未得到解决。通过将FEF转录组学与亚热带森林幼苗动态相结合，在现代共存理论下，我们验证了FEF分子功能是否通过寄主适合度差异和生态位分化来调节幼苗存活。结果表明，FEF转录本多样性与寄主分化时间和最大高度密切相关，FEF功能通过适应度和生态位相关过程显著提高幼苗成活率。在这些FEF功能中，具有高度寄主系统发育依赖性的基因本体（GO）术语通过与多生物相互作用相关的适应度差异来提高幼苗存活率，而具有高度寄主性状依赖性的基因本体（GO）术语通过与基本生命过程相关的生态位分化来提高幼苗存活率。我们的研究结果在天然森林微生物功能基因组学和现代共存理论之间建立了一座桥梁。

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来源期刊

Ecology Letters 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

17.60

自引率

3.40%

发文量

201

审稿时长

1.8 months

期刊介绍： Ecology Letters serves as a platform for the rapid publication of innovative research in ecology. It considers manuscripts across all taxa, biomes, and geographic regions, prioritizing papers that investigate clearly stated hypotheses. The journal publishes concise papers of high originality and general interest, contributing to new developments in ecology. Purely descriptive papers and those that only confirm or extend previous results are discouraged.