DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00976-26 ISSN: 2165-0497
Impact of plant sex on endophytic microbial diversity and community assembly in dioecious species
Meiqin Mao, Yutong Wu, Linxin Ye, Xinyi Su, Jiaye Zhang, Shufen Cui, Chenmiao Wang, Shaokai Xu, Yuxin Jian, Luping Qin, Bo Zhu ABSTRACT
Dioecious plants show marked sexual dimorphism in morphology, physiology, defense, and life-history allocation, yet differences in endophytic microbiomes remain understudied. We compared endophytic bacterial and fungal communities between male and female individuals of four dioecious species—
Eucommia ulmoides
,
Taxus wallichiana
var.
mairei
,
Ginkgo biloba
, and
Morus alba
—by high-throughput sequencing of bark (
E. ulmoides
and
T. wallichiana
var.
mairei
) and leaves (
G. biloba
and
M. alba
). Sex significantly influenced the assembly of bacterial and fungal communities in all species. Bacterial alpha diversity (Shannon index) was significantly higher in males than females for
E. ulmoides
,
T. wallichiana
var.
mairei
, and
M. alba
. The bacterial phylum Spirochaetota was only detected in male samples of
E. ulmoides
,
G. biloba
, and
M. alba
, while the fungal genera
Albophoma
and
Striaticonidium
were detected only in female samples across all four species. Acidobacteria were significantly enriched in males of
E. ulmoides
and
T. wallichiana
var.
mairei
, whereas the fungal genus
Sporidesmium
was more abundant in females of
T. wallichiana
var.
mairei
and
M. alba
. Despite these sex-driven differences, dominant endophytic composition was similar between sexes: Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria were the most prevalent bacterial phyla, whereas Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the most prevalent fungal phyla across all samples. Co-occurrence analysis indicated stronger links between Actinobacteriota or Proteobacteria and other phyla than among remaining phyla. These results enhance understanding of sex-associated endophytic communities in dioecious plants and may inform studies on plant sex differentiation and potential plant–microbiome associations.
IMPORTANCE
Plant sex influences physiology, defense, and resource allocation, but its effects on internal microbial communities remain poorly understood. We compared endophytic bacteria and fungi in male and female Eucommia ulmoides, Taxus wallichiana var. mairei, Ginkgo biloba, and Morus alba using high-throughput sequencing and found consistent sex-associated differences in microbial diversity and specific taxa (e.g., Spirochaetota enriched in males; Albophoma and Striaticonidium enriched in females). These results indicate that sex is a reproducible driver of endophyte community assembly across diverse hosts. Recognizing sex-specific microbiomes has practical implications for conservation, forest and crop health management, and targeted bioprospecting, and underscores the need to include host sex as a key factor in ecological, functional, and evolutionary studies of plant–microbe interactions.