Seasonal Variation Imparts The Endophytic Bacterial Community Dynamics in Mango Plants and Its Hemiparasites

Abstract Assessment of bacterial community dynamics helps to estimate the endophytic community structure and ecological behaviour imposed by them. Such community composition is essential to understand the molecular interplay that lies between them and the host plants. The present study aims to explore the endophytic bacterial communities and their dynamics in the pre-flowering and post-flowering seasons in the horticulturally important Mango (Mangifera indica L.) and its hemiparasites Loranthus sp., and Macrosolen sp. through a metagenomic approach using the sequence of V3 region of 16S rRNA gene. Bacillus was found to be the most abundant genera, followed by Acinetobacter, and Corynebacterium, which belong to the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. It has been found that during the post-flowering season, twigs and leaves of mango have lower endophytic bacterial loads. Furthermore, the alpha-diversity indices of the representative genera were highest in Loranthus sp. during the post-flowering seasons of mango. The ecological, taxonomic, and complex correlation studies unravelled that the hemiparasites act as the potent reservoirs of endophytic community throughout the year, and during favourable conditions, these bacterial communities disseminate to the mango plant.