Abstract
Aims
Bacterial communities inhabiting seeds may interact not only with the plant host, but also with seed predators. The study compared the bacterial communities associated with seeds of seven weeds Crepis biennis, Taraxacum officinale, Tripleurospermum inodorum, Plantago lanceolata, Thlaspi arvense, Silene latifolia and Leonurus cardiaca, after burial in soil for two years, and demonstrated how these changes relate to seed mass, viability and attractiveness for a seed predator, Pseudoophonus rufipes (DeGeer) (Coleoptera: Carabidae).
Results
Bacterial diversity, assessed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA amplicon, increased 5–10 times, while seed viability and mass decreased with burial time. Mostly, the seed species differed in their microbiomes and changes in seed properties together with their attractiveness to the beetle. Seed microbiomes remained specific after burial and contained taxa characteristic for both plant endophytes but also insect guts. In all seeds, 5 zero radius OTUs (ZOTU) were common after one year of burial, while only one common ZOTU remained after the second year. Seeds of T. officinale and T. inodorum lost attractiveness for the beetle approx. by 90 and 80% resp., while seeds of T. arvense improved their attractiveness by 80% after soil exposure. Changes in seed consumption were partially explained by bacterial communities and seed properties, namely the C/N ratio and seed viability.
Conclusions
Seed mass, viability, C/N and beetle predation were related to the bacterial community. These relationships also changed after seed burial in soil, which may impact seed survival and consequently influence plant population dynamics and weed management.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Jana Kohoutová, Hana Smutná and Iveta Slaninová for their help with seed preparation and sample processing. The work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation project #14-02773S, Ministry of Agriculture of the CR, project QK1810370 and institutional project RO 0418, and by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, European Regional Development Fund-Project CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000845. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Keith Edwards for English editing.
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Saska, P., Kopecky, J., Omelka, M. et al. Seed properties and bacterial communities are associated with feeding preferences of a seed-eating beetle. Plant Soil 480, 329–348 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05584-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05584-1