Prevalence and underlying mechanisms of phylosymbiosis in land plants

Abstract

Phylosymbiosis, the congruence of microbiome composition with host phylogeny, is a valuable framework for investigating plant-microbe associations and their evolutionary ecology. This review assesses the prevalence of phylosymbiosis across the plant kingdom, elucidates the fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes contributing to its occurrence based on previous research and explores commonly used methods for identifying phylosymbiosis. We find that the presence of phylosymbiosis may be influenced by both phylogenetic distance and the taxonomic level at which host plants are examined, with the strength of associations potentially decreasing as the taxonomic scale becomes finer. Notably, the endophytic microbiome exhibits a stronger phylosymbiosis signal compared to the epiphytic or rhizosphere-associated microbiomes. The type of microorganisms (e.g., fungi and bacteria) can yield highly variable evidence for phylosymbiosis due to differences in colonization, transmission, or functional characteristics. We also outline how the four community assembly processes (dispersal, selection, diversification, drift) contribute to the establishment and maintenance of host-microbe phylosymbiosis. Furthermore, we highlight the diversity of methods employed to detect phylosymbiosis, which involves three key processes: constructing host phylogenies, assessing microbial data, and statistically evaluating the correlation between host phylogeny and microbial composition. Remarkably different methodologies across studies make comparisons between findings challenging. To advance our understanding, future research is expected to explore phylosymbiosis at lower taxonomic levels and investigate different microbial communities coexisting synergistically within the same host. Understanding the relative importance of community assembly processes in driving phylosymbiosis will be critical for gaining deeper insights into the ecology and evolution of host-microbe interactions.