TY - JOUR T1 - Characterization of the <em>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</em> phycosphere reveals conserved features of the plant microbiota JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.03.04.433956 SP - 2021.03.04.433956 AU - Paloma Durán AU - José Flores-Uribe AU - Kathrin Wippel AU - Pengfan Zhang AU - Rui Guan AU - Ruben Garrido-Oter Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/04/2021.03.04.433956.abstract N2 - Microscopic algae release organic compounds to the region immediately surrounding their cells, known as the phycosphere, constituting a niche for colonization by heterotrophic bacteria. These bacteria take up algal photoassimilates and provide beneficial functions to their host, in a process that resembles the establishment of microbial communities associated with the roots and rhizospheres of land plants. Here, we characterize the microbiota of the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and reveal extensive taxonomic and functional overlap with the root microbiota of land plants. Reconstitution experiments using synthetic communities derived from C. reinhardtii and Arabidopsis thaliana show that phycosphere and root bacteria assemble into taxonomically equivalent communities on either host. We show that provision of diffusible metabolites is not sufficient for phycosphere community establishment, which additionally requires physical proximity to the host. Our data suggests that the microbiota of photosynthetic organisms, including green algae and flowering plants, assembles according to core ecological principles.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -