Abstract Detail

Systematics

Scherer, Brendan [1], Mast, Austin [2].

Phylogeography and Propagule Bacterial Diversity Across the Florida Range of Red Mangroves (Rhizophora mangle; Rhizophoraceae).

Plants are home to a diverse array of endophytic microbes which may confer numerous benefits to their host including pathogen defense, nutrient acquisition, drought and frost tolerance, and the production of secondary metabolites. The tissues of multicellular organisms are often home to diverse microbial communities, leading some researchers to suggest that we should not treat multicellular organisms and their symbionts independently in evolutionary contexts. This concept has been formalized in the Hologenome Theory of Evolution (HToE), which is based on the assumptions that 1) microbial life is ubiquitous on and within multicellular organisms, 2) microbial symbionts often confer benefits to their host, 3) microbial symbionts are often transmitted from parent to offspring, and 4) the genome of the host and that of its symbionts (termed the hologenome) provides greater variability for natural selection to act upon than that of the host alone. One of the most controversial assumptions of the HToE is that microbes are inherited from parent to offspring. While likely the case in some systems, the extent of this phenomenon is not yet clear. This project will investigate variability in endophytic bacterial communities in viviparous red mangrove propagules (Rhizophora mangle) across geographic distance using Illumina sequencing of the V4 region of the 16s rRNA gene and microbial community analysis. Additionally, this project will generate a large RADseq data set from the mangroves themselves to investigate the phylogeography of an ongoing northward range expansion. This project will determine the extent to which host phylogeography or local environment are correlated with endophytic bacterial community diversity using fourth corner analysis. If bacterial communities cluster by geographic location, they may be environmentally derived from the local environment. If, however, these communities are conserved throughout the range of the species, they may be inherited faithfully from parent to offspring.

1 - Florida State University, Biological Sciences, 319 Stadium Drive, Tallahassee, Fl, 32304, US
2 - Florida State University, Department Of Biological Science, 319 Stadium Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, United States

Keywords:
phylogeography
RADseq
mangrove
endophytes
16S
bacteria.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: COOL1, ASPT Cooley Award Talks
Location: Tucson C/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 8:30 AM
Number: COOL1003
Abstract ID:484
Candidate for Awards:George R. Cooley Award