Pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is one of the greatest threats to pine trees and is spreading all over the world. During the nematode's pathogenesis, plant microorganisms play important roles. However, many microbial communities, such as that in Pinus massoniana, a major host of B. xylophilus that is widely distributed in China, are not well studied, especially the fungal communities. Here, the endophytic and rhizospheric bacterial and fungal communities associated with healthy and B. xylophilus-infected P. massoniana were analyzed. The results showed that 7639 bacterial and 3108 fungal OTUs were annotated from samples of P. massoniana, the rhizosphere, and B. xylophilus. There were significant diversity differences of endophytic microbes between healthy and infected P. massoniana. The abundances of endophytic bacteria Paenibacillus, unidentified_Burkholderiaceae, Serratia, Erwinia, and Pseudoxanthomonas and fungi Penicillifer, Zygoascus, Kirschsteiniothelia, Cyberlindnera, and Sporothrix in infected pines were greater than those in healthy pines, suggesting an association of particular microbial abundances with the pathogenesis of B. xylophilus in pines. Meanwhile, the abundances of microbes of unidentified_Burkholderiaceae, Saitozyma, and Pestalotiopsis were greater and Acidothermus and Trichoderma were lower in the rhizosphere under infected pines than those under healthy pines and the differences might be caused by B. xylophilus-induced weakening of the health of pines. Our study explored the endophytic and rhizospheric microbial community changes potentially caused by B. xylophilus infection of pines.
Keywords: Endophytic microbes; Microbial community; Pines; Pinewood nematode; Rhizospheric microbes.