Biology subjects

Laurich, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Laurich, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Having the 'right' microbiome matters for host trait expression and the strength of mutualism between duckweeds and microbes

An organisms phenotypes and fitness often depend on interactive effects of its genome (Ghost), microbiome (Gmicrobe), and environment (E). These G xG, G xE, and G xG xE effects fundamentally shape host-microbiome (co)evolution and may be widespread, but are rarely compared within a single experiment. We collected and cultured Lemna minor (duckweed) and its associated microbiome from 10 sites across an urban-to-rural ecotone. We factorially manipulated host genotype and microbiome in two environments (low and high zinc, an urban aquatic stressor) in an experiment with 200 treatments: 10 host genotypes x 10 microbiomes x 2 environments. Host genotype explained the most variation in L. minor fitness and traits, while microbiome effects depended on host genotype (G xG) or environment (G xE). Hosts had higher fitness and microbes grew fastest when tested microbiomes more closely matched field microbiomes, suggesting some local adaptation between hosts and their microbiota. High microbiome similarity also led to more predictable host trait expression. In contrast, although zinc decreased host fitness, we observed no local adaptation of urban duckweed or microbes to high-zinc conditions. Thus, we found that host fitness and trait expression are contingent on microbiome composition, with implications for microbiome engineering and host-microbiome evolution.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Resilience to multiple stressors in an aquatic plant and its microbiome

PremiseEnvironments are changing rapidly, and outcomes of species interactions, especially mutualisms, are notoriously dependent on the environment. A growing number of studies have investigated responses of mutualisms to anthropogenic changes, yet most studies have focused on nutrient pollution or climate change, and tested single stressors. Relatively little is known about impacts of simultaneous chemical contaminants, which may differ fundamentally from nutrient or climate stressors, and are especially widespread in aquatic habitats.\n\nMethodsWe investigated the impacts of two common contaminants on interactions between the common duckweed Lemna minor and its microbiome. Sodium chloride (salt) and benzotriazole (a corrosion inhibitor) negatively affect aquatic organisms individually, yet commonly co-occur in runoff to duckweed-inhabited sites. We tested three L. minor genotypes with and without the culturable portion of their microbiome across field realistic gradients of salt (3 levels) and benzotriazole (4 levels) in a fully factorial experiment (72 treatments), and measured plant and microbial growth.\n\nKey ResultsWe found that stressors had conditional effects. Salt decreased both plant and microbial growth, but decreased plant survival more as benzotriazole concentrations increased. In contrast, benzotriazole did not affect microbial abundance, and benefited plants when salt and microbes were absent, perhaps due to the biotrans-formation we observed without salt. Microbes did not ameliorate duckweed stressors, as microbial inoculation increased plant growth, but not at high salt concentrations.\n\nConclusionsOur results suggest that multistressor effects matter when predicting responses of mutualisms to global change, but that mutualisms may not buffer organisms from stressors.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Mutualism outcome across plant populations, microbes, and environments in the duckweed Lemna minor

The picture emerging from the rapidly growing literature on host-associated micro-biota is that host traits and fitness often depend on complex and interactive effects of host genotype, microbial interactions, and abiotic environment. However, testing these main and interactive effects typically requires large, multi-factorial experiments and thus remains challenging in many systems. Furthermore, most studies of plant microbiomes focus on terrestrial hosts and microbes. Aquatic habitats may confer unique properties to plant micriobiomes. We grew different populations of duck-weed (Lemna minor), a floating aquatic plant of increasing popularity in freshwater phytoremediation, in three microbial treatments (adding no, \"home\", or \"away\" microbes) at two levels of zinc, a common water contaminant in urban areas. Thus, we simultaneously manipulated plant source population, microbial community, and the abiotic environment, and measured both plant and microbial performance as well as plant traits. Although we found little evidence of interactive effects, we found strong main effects of plant source, microbial treatment, and zinc on both duckweed and microbial growth, with significant variation among both duckweed and microbial communities. Despite strong growth alignment between duckweed and microbes, zinc consistently decreased plant growth, but increased microbial growth. Furthermore, as in recent studies of terrestrial plants, microbial interactions altered a duckweed phenotype (frond aggregation). Our results suggest that the duckweed source population, its associated microbiome, and the contaminant environment may all need to be considered in real-world phytoremediation efforts. Lastly, we propose that duckweed microbes offer a robust experimental system for study of host-microbiota interactions under a range of environmental stresses.

ecology↗