PineBiome is a collaborative project that aims to quantify how host genotype and microbiome composition combine to influence susceptibility to Dothistroma needle blight disease in pine trees.
PineBiome Project outline
A key challenge in plant disease research is to understand how interactions between a plant host and its microbiome affect disease progression and severity. Understanding these interactions in trees may have important consequences for managing commercial forests and native forest habitats. One globally important tree pathogen is the foliar fungal pathogen, Dothistroma septosporum (DNB). This pathogen infects multiple pine species, including Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). DNB infection causes needle loss, reduced timber yields and in severe cases tree death. Previous research has shown variation in susceptibility to DNB among P.sylvestris genotypes, but the mechanism underlying this variation is unclear. One hypothesis is that an interaction between the host genotype and the foliar microbial community influences DNB infection.
To test this hypothesis, we are comparing the diversity of fungal pine needle microbe communities across a range of P. sylvestris genotypes, using a metabarcoding and RNA-sequencing approach. The trees sampled were clustered into DNB susceptible and resistant genotypes, and the pine needle microbial communities assessed at multiple time points. Analysis of this data will allow us to answer questions about how the microbiome differs between susceptible and resistant tree genotypes and about how the microbiome changes during the DNB growing season.
Strategic relevance
Trees play a critical role in combatting our current biodiversity and climate crises, and expansion of UK tree populations are current UK policy commitments. Innovative research on how to protect trees from biotic stress, such as that described here, is essential in realising this ambition and will deliver to DEFRA’s Tree Health Resilience Strategy1.
- DEFRA(UK), “Tree Health Resilience Strategy” (2018).
Principle investigator
Team members
- Dr Beth Moore: The James Hutton Institute
- Dr Annika Perry: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
- Dr Stephen Cavers: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
- Dr V. Anne Smith: University of St Andrews
- Dr Sundeep Kaur: Forest Research
- Dr Bridget Crampton: Forest Research
This project is funded by BBSRC: BB/W020610
