Seasonal variation of epiphytic bacteria in the phyllosphere of Gingko biloba, Pinus bungeana and Sabina chinensis

Phyllosphere harbors diverse microorganisms, which influence plant growth and health. In order to understand the extent to which environmental factors affect epiphytic microbial communities, we characterized microbial communities on leaves of three separate tree species present on the college campus, and also present within a forest park over two seasons. Quantitative PCR analysis showed the quantity of 16S rRNA genes was lower in May compared with October, while the abundances of functional genes (nifH and bacterial amoA genes) were extremely high in May. High-throughput sequencing revealed a large variation in the diversity and composition of bacterial and diazotrophic communities over the two seasons, and showed the abundance of functional genera, such as Nocardioides, Bacillus and Zoogloea were significantly elevated in May. In addition, xenobiotic biodegradation pathways of bacterial communities were clearly elevated in May. Network analysis showed the correlations between phyllospheric bacteria in May were more complex than that in October and showed greater negative correlations. These results were consistent in all tree species in this study. This study showed that phyllospheric bacteria varied greatly in different seasons, which implies that different growing seasons should be considered in the exploitation of the interactions between phyllospheric microorganisms and host plants.