The plant NADPH oxidase RBOHD is required for microbiota homeostasis in leaves


METADATA ONLY

Date

2021-07

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric
METADATA ONLY

Data

Rights / License

Abstract

The plant microbiota consists of a multitude of microorganisms that can affect plant health and fitness. However, it is currently unclear how the plant shapes its leaf microbiota and what role the plant immune system plays in this process. Here, we evaluated Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with defects in different parts of the immune system for an altered bacterial community assembly using a gnotobiotic system. While higher-order mutants in receptors that recognize microbial features and in defence hormone signalling showed substantial microbial community alterations, the absence of the plant NADPH oxidase RBOHD caused the most pronounced change in the composition of the leaf microbiota. The rbohD knockout resulted in an enrichment of specific bacteria. Among these, we identified Xanthomonas strains as opportunistic pathogens that colonized wild-type plants asymptomatically but caused disease in rbohD knockout plants. Strain dropout experiments revealed that the lack of RBOHD unlocks the pathogenicity of individual microbiota members driving dysbiosis in rbohD knockout plants. For full protection, healthy plants require both a functional immune system and a microbial community. Our results show that the NADPH oxidase RBOHD is essential for microbiota homeostasis and emphasizes the importance of the plant immune system in controlling the leaf microbiota.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

6

Pages / Article No.

852 - 864

Publisher

Nature

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Organisational unit

03740 - Vorholt, Julia / Vorholt, Julia check_circle
09583 - Sunagawa, Shinichi / Sunagawa, Shinichi check_circle

Notes

Funding

668991 - Structure function relationships of the phyllosphere microbiota (EC)

Related publications and datasets