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Primer pairs, PCR conditions, and peptide nucleic acid clamps affect fungal diversity assessment from plant root tissues

Viotti, Chloé ; Chalot, Michel ; Kennedy, Peter G. ; Maillard, François LU ; Santoni, Sylvain ; Blaudez, Damien and Bertheau, Coralie (2024) In Mycology 15(2). p.255-271
Abstract

High-throughput sequencing has become a prominent tool to assess plant-associated microbial diversity. Still, some technical challenges remain in characterising these communities, notably due to plant and fungal DNA co-amplification. Fungal-specific primers, Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) clamps, or adjusting PCR conditions are approaches to limit plant DNA contamination. However, a systematic comparison of these factors and their interactions, which could limit plant DNA contamination in the study of plant mycobiota, is still lacking. Here, three primers targeting the ITS2 region were evaluated alone or in combination with PNA clamps both on nettle (Urtica dioica) root DNA and a mock community. PNA clamps did not improve the richness or... (More)

High-throughput sequencing has become a prominent tool to assess plant-associated microbial diversity. Still, some technical challenges remain in characterising these communities, notably due to plant and fungal DNA co-amplification. Fungal-specific primers, Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) clamps, or adjusting PCR conditions are approaches to limit plant DNA contamination. However, a systematic comparison of these factors and their interactions, which could limit plant DNA contamination in the study of plant mycobiota, is still lacking. Here, three primers targeting the ITS2 region were evaluated alone or in combination with PNA clamps both on nettle (Urtica dioica) root DNA and a mock community. PNA clamps did not improve the richness or diversity of the fungal communities but increased the number of fungal reads. Among the tested factors, the most significant was the primer pair. Specifically, the 5.8S-Fun/ITS4-Fun pair exhibited a higher OTU richness but fewer fungal reads. Our study demonstrates that the choice of primers is critical for limiting plant and fungal DNA co-amplification. PNA clamps increase the number of fungal reads when ITS2 is targeted but do not result in higher fungal diversity recovery at high sequencing depth. At lower read depths, PNA clamps might enhance microbial diversity quantification for primer pairs lacking fungal specificity.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
annealing temperature, blocking primers, fungi, high-throughput sequencing, ITS2, metabarcoding, Urtica dioica
in
Mycology
volume
15
issue
2
pages
17 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85184679695
  • pmid:38813472
ISSN
2150-1203
DOI
10.1080/21501203.2023.2301003
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
20b94bd6-07de-4b04-944d-7be7eb6b3a0b
date added to LUP
2024-06-02 15:13:32
date last changed
2024-06-16 15:53:57
@article{20b94bd6-07de-4b04-944d-7be7eb6b3a0b,
  abstract     = {{<p>High-throughput sequencing has become a prominent tool to assess plant-associated microbial diversity. Still, some technical challenges remain in characterising these communities, notably due to plant and fungal DNA co-amplification. Fungal-specific primers, Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) clamps, or adjusting PCR conditions are approaches to limit plant DNA contamination. However, a systematic comparison of these factors and their interactions, which could limit plant DNA contamination in the study of plant mycobiota, is still lacking. Here, three primers targeting the ITS2 region were evaluated alone or in combination with PNA clamps both on nettle (Urtica dioica) root DNA and a mock community. PNA clamps did not improve the richness or diversity of the fungal communities but increased the number of fungal reads. Among the tested factors, the most significant was the primer pair. Specifically, the 5.8S-Fun/ITS4-Fun pair exhibited a higher OTU richness but fewer fungal reads. Our study demonstrates that the choice of primers is critical for limiting plant and fungal DNA co-amplification. PNA clamps increase the number of fungal reads when ITS2 is targeted but do not result in higher fungal diversity recovery at high sequencing depth. At lower read depths, PNA clamps might enhance microbial diversity quantification for primer pairs lacking fungal specificity.</p>}},
  author       = {{Viotti, Chloé and Chalot, Michel and Kennedy, Peter G. and Maillard, François and Santoni, Sylvain and Blaudez, Damien and Bertheau, Coralie}},
  issn         = {{2150-1203}},
  keywords     = {{annealing temperature; blocking primers; fungi; high-throughput sequencing; ITS2; metabarcoding; Urtica dioica}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{255--271}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Mycology}},
  title        = {{Primer pairs, PCR conditions, and peptide nucleic acid clamps affect fungal diversity assessment from plant root tissues}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21501203.2023.2301003}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/21501203.2023.2301003}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}