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Mycorrhizal fungal community composition in seven orchid species inhabiting Song Mountain, Beijing, China

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Abstract

Mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the germination and growth of orchids essentially influencing their survival, abundance, and spatial distribution. In this study, we investigated the composition of the mycorrhizal fungal community in seven terrestrial orchid species inhabiting Song Mountain, Beijing, China, using Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing. The mycorrhizal communities in the seven orchids were mainly composed of members of the Ceratobasidiaceae, Sebacinales, and Tulasnellaceae, while a number of ectomycorrhizal fungi belonging to the Russulaceae, Tricholomataceae, Thelephoraceae, and Cortinariaceae were occasionally observed. However, the dominant fungal associates and mycorrhizal community differed significantly among the orchid species as well as subhabitats. These findings confirm the previous observation that sympatric orchid species show different preferences for mycorrhizal fungi, which may drive niche partitioning and contribute to their cooccurrence.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by CAMS Initiative for Innovative Medicine (2016-I2M-2-002).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yanhong Chen, Yue Gao, Linli Song, Zeyu Zhao, Shunxing Guo & Xiaoke Xing

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  1. Yanhong Chen
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  2. Yue Gao
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  3. Linli Song
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  4. Zeyu Zhao
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Correspondence to Xiaoke Xing.

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Table S1

List of 154 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) corresponding to orchid-associating fungi identified in this study

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Chen, Y., Gao, Y., Song, L. et al. Mycorrhizal fungal community composition in seven orchid species inhabiting Song Mountain, Beijing, China. Sci. China Life Sci. 62, 838–847 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-018-9471-x

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