Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Ijaz, Umer and Malik, Abdulla Kauser (2024) Microbial influencers and Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) susceptibility: a network perspective. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15: 1381883. ISSN 1664-302X

Abstract

Biotic stresses, such as plant viruses, e.g., cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), can alter root-associated and leaf-associated microbial diversities in plants. There are complex ecological dynamics at play, with each microbe contributing to a multitude of biotic and abiotic interactions, thus deciding the stability of the plant’s ecosystem in response to the disease. Deciphering these networks of interactions is a challenging task. The inferential research in microbiome is also at a nascent stage, often constrained by the underlying analytical assumptions and the limitations with respect to the depth of sequencing. There is also no real consensus on network-wide statistics to identify the influential microbial players in a network. Guided by the latest developments in network science, including recently published metrics such as Integrated View of Influence (IVI) and some other centrality measures, this study provides an exposé of the most influential nodes in the rhizospheric and phyllospheric microbial networks of the cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) susceptible, partially tolerant, and resistant cotton varieties. It is evident from our results that the CLCuD-resistant Gossypium arboreum possesses an equal share of keystone species, which helps it to withstand ecological pressures. In the resistant variety, the phyllosphere harbors the most influential nodes, whereas in the susceptible variety, they are present in the rhizosphere. Based on hubness score, spreading score, and IVI, the top 10 occurring keystone species in the FDH-228 (resistant) variety include Actinokineospora, Cohnella, Thermobacillus, Clostridium, Desulfofarcimen, and MDD-D21. Elusimicrobia, Clostridium-sensu-stricto_12, Candidatus woesebacteria, and Dyella were identified as the most influential nodes in the PFV-1 (partially tolerant) variety. In the PFV-2 (susceptible) variety, the keystone species were identified as Georginia, Nesterenkonia, Elusimicrobia MVP-88, Acetivibrio, Tepedisphaerales, Chelatococcus, Nitrosospira, and RCP2-54. This concept deciphers the diseased and healthy plant’s response to viral disease, which may be microbially mediated.

People
Aqueel, Rhea
Author

Badar, Ayesha and Aqueel, Rhea and Nawaz, Ali and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Malik, Kauser Abdulla (2025) Microbiota transplantation for Cotton Leaf Curl Disease suppression - core microbiome and transcriptome dynamics. Communications Biology, 8 (1): 380. ISSN 2399-3642

Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Roy, Nazish and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Malik, Kauser Abdulla (2024) Disease resistance correlates with core microbiome diversity in cotton. Current Microbiology, 81 (9): 302. ISSN 0343-8651

Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Ijaz, Umer and Malik, Abdulla Kauser (2024) Microbial influencers and Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) susceptibility: a network perspective. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15: 1381883. ISSN 1664-302X

See full publications list
Badar, Ayesha
Author

Badar, Ayesha and Aqueel, Rhea and Nawaz, Ali and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Malik, Kauser Abdulla (2025) Microbiota transplantation for Cotton Leaf Curl Disease suppression - core microbiome and transcriptome dynamics. Communications Biology, 8 (1): 380. ISSN 2399-3642

Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Roy, Nazish and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Malik, Kauser Abdulla (2024) Disease resistance correlates with core microbiome diversity in cotton. Current Microbiology, 81 (9): 302. ISSN 0343-8651

Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Ijaz, Umer and Malik, Abdulla Kauser (2024) Microbial influencers and Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) susceptibility: a network perspective. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15: 1381883. ISSN 1664-302X

See full publications list
Ijaz, Umer
Author

Cholet, Fabien and Vignola, Marta and Quinn, Dominic and Ijaz, Umer Z. and Sloan, William T. and Smith, Cindy J. (2025) Microbial ecology of drinking water biofiltration based on 16S rRNA sequencing: a meta-analysis. Water Research, 281: 123684. ISSN 0043-1354

Saleem, Farrukh and Ameer, Aqsa and Afzal, Farhan and Usman, Muhammad and Irshad, Hamid and Sattar, Sadia and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Javed, Sundus (2025) A cross-sectional survey of poultry management systems, practices and antimicrobial use in relation to disease outbreak in Pakistan. BMC Research Notes, 18: 144. ISSN 1756-0500

Badar, Ayesha and Aqueel, Rhea and Nawaz, Ali and Ijaz, Umer Zeeshan and Malik, Kauser Abdulla (2025) Microbiota transplantation for Cotton Leaf Curl Disease suppression - core microbiome and transcriptome dynamics. Communications Biology, 8 (1): 380. ISSN 2399-3642

See full publications list
Malik, Abdulla Kauser
Author

Aqueel, Rhea and Badar, Ayesha and Ijaz, Umer and Malik, Abdulla Kauser (2024) Microbial influencers and Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) susceptibility: a network perspective. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15: 1381883. ISSN 1664-302X

See full publications list
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