Endophytic bacterial diversity of an Antarctic moss, Sanionia uncinata

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the beneficial effects of endophytic bacteria on their host are significant, the investigation of the microbial diversity in any Antarctic moss has been neglected. In this study, we investigate the endophytic bacterial diversity of the upper green part and the lower brown part of Sanionia uncinata through 16S rRNA genes using pyrosequencing. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum with 65.6%, followed by Bacteroidetes (29.1%) and Actinobacteria (11.7%). The different distribution of Alphaproteobacteria between the upper green (2%) and lower brown (22.2%) parts of the moss was significant. Furthermore, dominant and diverse species were detected and closely related to the environmental sequences. These findings suggest that there are likely to be specific relationships between endophytes and host Antarctic moss species.