Elevated carbon dioxide reduces a common soybean leaf endophyte

Abstract

Free-air CO₂ enrichment (FACE) experiments have elucidated how climate change affects plant physiology and production. However, we lack a predictive understanding of how climate change alters interactions between plants and endophytes, critical microbial mediators of plant physiology and ecology. We leveraged the SoyFACE facility to examine how elevated [CO₂ ] affected soybean (Glycine max) leaf endophyte communities in the field. Endophyte community composition changed under elevated [CO₂ ], including a decrease in the abundance of a common endophyte, Methylobacterium sp. Moreover, Methylobacterium abundance was negatively correlated with co-occurring fungal endophytes. We then assessed how Methylobacterium affected the growth of co-occurring endophytic fungi in vitro. Methylobacterium antagonized most co-occurring fungal endophytes in vitro, particularly when it was more established in culture before fungal introduction. Variation in fungal response to Methylobacterium within a single fungal operational taxonomic unit (OTU) was comparable to inter-OTU variation. Finally, fungi isolated from elevated vs. ambient [CO₂ ] plots differed in colony growth and response to Methylobacterium, suggesting that increasing [CO₂ ] may affect fungal traits and interactions within the microbiome. By combining in situ and in vitro studies, we show that elevated [CO₂ ] decreases the abundance of a common bacterial endophyte that interacts strongly with co-occurring fungal endophytes. We suggest that endophyte responses to global climate change will have important but largely unexplored implications for both agricultural and natural systems.

Keywords: Methylobacterium; FACE (free-air CO2 enrichment); Glycine max (soybean); endophytes; fungi; in vitro assays; microbiome.