Deciphering the roles of bacterial and fungal communities in the formation and quality of agarwood

Chen-Chen Fu; Bao-Xing Huang; Shan-Shan Wang; Yu-Chen Song; Dolkar Metok; Yu-Xiang Tan; Tai-Ping Fan; Alisdair R Fernie; Meisam Zargar; Yan Wang; Mo-Xian Chen; Liang-Wen Yu; Fu-Yuan Zhu

doi:10.1007/s44154-024-00179-5

Deciphering the roles of bacterial and fungal communities in the formation and quality of agarwood

Stress Biol. 2024 Sep 20;4(1):40. doi: 10.1007/s44154-024-00179-5.

Authors

Chen-Chen Fu^#^{1

2

3}, Bao-Xing Huang^#², Shan-Shan Wang^#⁴, Yu-Chen Song¹, Dolkar Metok¹, Yu-Xiang Tan⁵, Tai-Ping Fan^{6

7}, Alisdair R Fernie⁸, Meisam Zargar⁹, Yan Wang¹, Mo-Xian Chen^{10

11}, Liang-Wen Yu^{12

13}, Fu-Yuan Zhu^{14

15}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, the Southern Modern Forestry Collaborative Innovation Center, Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration on Subtropical Forest Biodiversity Conservation, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
² Clinical Laboratory, Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, 518000, China.
³ Dongguan Institute of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Dongguan Institute of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Dongguan, 523808, China.
⁴ Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Biotechnology Drug Candidates, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁷ School of Health Sciences, Fuyao University of Science & Technology, Fuzhou, 350000, China.
⁸ Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
⁹ Department of Agrobiotechnology, Institute of Agriculture, RUDN University, 117198, Moscow, Russia.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, the Southern Modern Forestry Collaborative Innovation Center, Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration on Subtropical Forest Biodiversity Conservation, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China. [email protected].
¹¹ Department of Agrobiotechnology, Institute of Agriculture, RUDN University, 117198, Moscow, Russia. [email protected].
¹² Dongguan Institute of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Dongguan Institute of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Dongguan, 523808, China. [email protected].
¹³ Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510405, China. [email protected].
¹⁴ State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, the Southern Modern Forestry Collaborative Innovation Center, Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration on Subtropical Forest Biodiversity Conservation, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China. [email protected].
¹⁵ State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China. [email protected].

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Aquilaria sinensis is a significant resin-producing plant worldwide that is crucial for agarwood production. Agarwood has different qualities depending on the method with which it is formed, and the microbial community structures that are present during these methods are also diverse. Furthermore, the microbial communities of plants play crucial roles in determining their health and productivity. While previous studies have investigated the impact of microorganisms on agarwood formation, they lack comprehensiveness, particularly regarding the properties of the microbial community throughout the entire process from seedling to adult to incense formation. We collected roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and other tissues from seedlings, healthy plants and agarwood-producing plants to address this gap and assess the dominant bacterial species in the microbial community structures of A. sinensis at different growth stages and their impacts on growth and agarwood formation. The bacteria and fungi in these tissues were classified and counted from different perspectives. The samples were sequenced using the Illumina sequencing platform, and sequence analyses and species annotations were performed using a range of bioinformatics tools to assess the plant community compositions. An additional comparison of the samples was conducted using diversity analyses to assess their differences. This research revealed that Listeria, Kurtzmanomyces, Ascotaiwania, Acinetobacter, Sphingobium, Fonsecaea, Acrocalymma, Allorhizobium, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Peethambara, and Debaryomyces are potentially associated with the formation of agarwood. Overall, the data provided in this article help us understand the important roles played by bacteria and fungi in the growth and agarwood formation process of A. sinensis, will support the theoretical basis for the large-scale cultivation of A. sinensis, and provide a basis for further research on microbial community applications in agarwood production and beyond.

Keywords: Aquilaria sinensis; Bacteria; Endophytic; Exophytic; Fungi; Plant tissue.

Grants and funding

CX(21)2023/Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund