Plant-microbe interaction in Antarctica

Endophytes are microorganisms that dwell inside healthy plant tissues without causing any detectable disease symptoms to the host. They are ubiquitously associated with almost all plants and are able to improve plant ecology and ftness, conferring resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Their ecological role becomes even more important when plants live in extreme environmental conditions such as those of Antarctica. In recent years, many studies focused on the analysis of soils and roots microbial communities associated to the Antarctic vascular plants Colobanthus quitensis and Deschampsia antarctica, whereas less it is known about leafassociated microorganisms. In this work, we show a preliminary study on the disclosure of bacterial, fungal and viral communities associated to C. quitensis leaves. A metatranscriptome analysis revealed the presence of sequences belonging to plant (72%), fungi (23%), bacteria, viruses and algae (5%). The ecological role of viruses was mainly addressed in order to deepen knowledge on the tripartite plant-fungus-virus interaction. Culturable bacteria and fungi have been also isolated and are currently under investigation