3.4 Community composition among treatments
Current results indicated significant difference in community
composition between two tissue types and across control and treatments.
NMDS ordination revealed differences in both bacterial and fungal
community compositions between aerial tissues and roots (Fig. 3a, b).
ANOSIM results showed larger differences in community composition among
the groups based on tissue type compared with those based on radiation
level for both bacterial and fungal endophytes. We further investigated
the community composition of endophytes in different tissues ofK . schrenkianum . Bacterial communities in roots and fungal
communities in both aerial tissues and roots showed significant
differences in composition among the radiation levels (Fig. 3d-f).
Meanwhile, the bacterial communities in aerial tissues showed no
significant differences in composition among the radiation levels (Fig.
3c). PerMANOVA indicated that the community composition of endophytic
bacteria and fungi was significantly affected by tissue type
(F 1, 39 = 12.021, R2 = 0.220,p = 0.001; F 1, 39 = 15.304,
R2 = 0.242, p = 0.001), radioactive level
(F 3, 39 = 2.022, R2 = 0.111,p = 0.001; xF 3, 39 = 3.143,
R2 = 0.149, p = 0.001), and their interaction
(F 3, 39 = 1.534, R2 = 0.084,p = 0.032; F 3, 39 = 2.155,
R2 = 0.102, p = 0.002). PerMANOVA subjected to
microbial communities in different tissues separately indicated that the
composition was affected by radiation level in case of bacterial
communities in roots (F 3, 19 = 2.164,
R2 = 0.289, p = 0.002) and fungal communities
in aerial tissues (F 3, 19 = 2.189,
R2 = 0.291, p = 0.001) and roots
(F 3, 19 = 2.885, R2 = 0.351,p = 0.001).