Item

Abstract

The potential of crop associated microbiota research is realized and being harnessed
essentially for the benefit of plant/crop. In this scenario the need for optimized amplicon
sequencing protocols is there for complex samples like phyllosphere endophytes which
could face the problem of host originated sequences. Endophyte research usually
consists of processes like surface sterilization to remove epiphytes and freezing of
samples for storage. Also, in this regard, no systematic research has been done to
evaluate how the sequence of freezing and sterilization effects the host associated
microbiome identification. In this study, I have developed optimized protocols to profile
the bacterial and fungal endophytic communities associated with matured wheat leaves
in the field. Also I have studied the effect of timing/sequence of surface sterilization and
freezing on the structure of endophytic microbial community data of wheat phylloplane.
As a third objective I have analyzed the impact of field sites on alpha and beta
diversities of bacterial and fungal communities.
It was found that first frozen (FF) samples have higher fungal diversity while first
sterilized (FS) samples have more bacterial diversity but not significant. Within the
field, bacterial communities are more diverse than between the fields. While fungal
communities are more different between the fields compared to within field diversity.
This difference is also found to be statistically not significant. Zymoseptoria and
Blumeria are significantly abundant in the samples from fungicide free plot of
Karkendamm compared to the samples of Hohenschulen field.