The impacts of ecological disturbances on the diversity of biosynthetic gene clusters in kauri (Agathis australis) soil.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The ancient kauri (Agathis australis) dominated forests of Aotearoa New Zealand are under threat from a multitude of ecological disturbances such as forest fragmentation, biodiversity loss, climate change, and the spread of the virulent soil pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida. Taking a wider ecosystem-level approach, our research aimed to explore the impacts of forest disturbance and disease outbreaks on the biosynthetic potential and taxonomic diversity of the kauri soil microbiome. We explored the diversity of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in soils from a range of kauri forests that varied according to historical disturbance and dieback expression. To characterise the diversity of microbial BGCs, we targeted the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase

SUBMITTER: Byers AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11391841 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature