Fungal communities driven by Rhododendron species correlate with pathogen protection

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Burke, Sarah R. Carrino-Kyker, Juliana S. Medeiros, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6322710/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Sep, 2025 Read the published version in Plant and Soil → Version 1 posted 6 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background and aims Plant interactions with soil microbial communities are critical for understanding plant health, improving horticultural and agricultural outcomes, and maintaining diverse natural communities. In some cases, disease suppressive soils enhance plant survival in the presence of pathogens. However, species-specific differences and seasonal variation complicate our understanding of the drivers of soil fungal communities and their consequences for plants. Here, we aim to describe soil fungal communities across Rhododendron species and seasons and test for fungal indicators of species and seasons in the soil. Further, we tested for correlations between fungal community composition and prior experimental quantification of disease suppressive soils. Methods We conducted high throughput sequencing of the fungi found in soil from 14 Rhododendron species and across 2 seasons at two sites in Ohio, USA. We described these soils and used phylogenetic analyses to ask whether fungal community composition correlated with increased plant survival with the addition of whole soil communities from a prior greenhouse experiment. Results We found effects of Rhododendron species and season on fungal communities. Fungal community composition correlated with survival following exposure to whole soil microbial communities, though this result depended on the presence of R. minus. We identified 45 Trichoderma taxa, and some Trichoderma were significantly associated with particular Rhododendron species in indicator species analyses. Conclusion The correlation between plant responses to soil biotic communities/fungal community composition, in the presence of potential beneficial taxa such as Trichoderma and mycorrhizal fungi, are consistent with fungal-mediated survival benefits from the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi. Disease suppressive soils Fungal taxa Plant-soil microbial interactions High throughput sequencing Rhododendron Soil microbes Full Text Supplementary Files SupplementAhmadetal.PlantandSoil.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Sep, 2025 Read the published version in Plant and Soil → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revisions 23 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 14 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Apr, 2025 Editor invited by journal 28 Mar, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 27 Mar, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 Mar, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6322710","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":437525912,"identity":"bc1eaa08-e9f5-4850-87bc-74a77f59b0cd","order_by":0,"name":"Saliha Ahmad","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAxElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAwkVNnJQNjNROhgPPDiTZkySFuaDD9sOJzYQrUV+RvKDA4ltzOn97ccfPmCosIbpxQ0MzhwzOJBwji13xpkcYwOGM+lEaGFvAGop48ndwJDDJsGIcCEehzWzfziQwCaRbsD//PkPxn9EaGE43gO0pc0gwUAiwYyBsYEILQZnzhQcSDiTYDjjxhtjiYRj6caEHTYjffPHHxX/5fn70x9++FBjLUvYYSgggTTlo2AUjIJRMApwAQCT+kULHgUORwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1166-7658","institution":"Case Western Reserve University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saliha","middleName":"","lastName":"Ahmad","suffix":""},{"id":437525913,"identity":"eab1ad50-551c-479d-854f-0db8d565d14d","order_by":1,"name":"David J. 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