A Glimpse into Community Stability of Creeping Bentgrass Fungal Communitites.

Plant-associated microbial communities are intimately involved with plant health and soil processes. Understanding short and long-term microbiome population dynamics may help optimization of biological control agents or utilization of existing plant health-promoting microbiota. In this study, we set out to characterize the fungal community associated with greenhouse-grown creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) and determine how quickly these communities establish after seeding. Seeds were planted to USGA specifications in a mixture of 85% sand and 15% peat, and samples of foliage and roots were taken at seedling emergence and every 2 months thereafter. Total DNA from soil, foliage, and roots was extracted, and PCR amplicons were generated using fungal ITS primers. Amplicons were sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq next generation sequencing platform, with subsequent data processing and analysis being performed in QIIME and R. After processing the 8.9 x10⁶ sequences, 11,789 de novo operational taxonomic units were identified. Differences between time points and sample source (foliage, roots, and soil) were observed between the fungal communities (P values < 0.05). Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were highest in the soil samples, followed by root and foliar tissue. Additionally, 40 OTUs were detected across all samples, thus compromising a core microbiome within the experiment. These findings help to highlight the diversity of microbial communities that associate with turfgrass ecosystems, even under controlled environments.