Assembly of host-specific bacterial and fungal communities from soil by diverse subaerial green algae

Subaerial green algae across Chlorophyta and Streptophyta assemble distinct phycosphere bacterial and fungal communities from soil, with host identity the primary driver of composition.

• Why it matters: It was unclear how widespread phycosphere assembly is across diverse green algae, whether host identity shapes community structure, and whether soil-borne fungi are recruited.
• What they did: The study compared algal hosts in natural soil and a liquid mesocosm, profiling soil-derived bacteria and fungi in the phycosphere and testing links to host identity and phylogeny.
• The result: In soil, bacterial communities were strongly reshaped by algal hosts, while fungal responses were weaker and less consistent; in liquid, bacterial composition correlated with host phylogeny, implying conserved host–microbe principles.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.