Supplementary files for the paper "Identifying associations between maize leaf transcriptome and bacteriome during different diurnal periods"

Bacteria that live on plant leaves, known as the phyllosphere microbiome, play important roles in plant health. Both the plant and these bacteria follow daily cycles, known as circadian rhythms, and are affected by changes from day to night. However, we still don’t fully understand how the plant and its microbes interact throughout the day.In this study, we looked at corn plants (maize) grown in the field and collected data from both the plant's gene activity and the types of bacteria living on its leaves. We focused on two specific times: midday and midnight.We found that the plant's genes behaved as expected, showing clear changes between day and night. Groups of genes that changed together were linked to important functions like handling heat, making energy through photosynthesis, and working with DNA and RNA.When we looked at the bacteria on the leaves, we didn’t see big differences in the number or types of bacteria (alpha diversity) between day and night. But we did find that the overall makeup of the bacterial community (beta diversity) shifted depending on the time of day. Some key types of bacteria were only found during the day or only at night, suggesting they might play different roles depending on the time.We also found t a larger number of associations between plant genes and bacteria at night. In particular, some plant genes that control daily rhythms were closely linked to specific types of bacteria.Overall, our results show that there are daily patterns in how corn plants and their leaf bacteria interact, and that the plant’s internal clock might help shape which bacteria are present and what they do.

栖息于植物叶片、被称为叶圈微生物组（phyllosphere microbiome）的细菌，对植物健康发挥着关键作用。植物与这类细菌均遵循以日为周期的节律——即昼夜节律（circadian rhythms），并会随昼夜交替产生的环境变化受到影响。然而，学界目前仍未完全明晰植物与其微生物在全天中的互作机制。本研究针对田间种植的玉米（maize）开展实验，采集了植物基因表达活性与叶片附着细菌类群的相关数据，并将观测重点锁定在两个特定时间点：正午与午夜。研究发现，植物基因的表达模式符合预期，昼夜间呈现出显著的表达差异。共表达基因模块与植物的重要生理功能密切相关，包括热应激响应、光合作用产能以及DNA、RNA相关代谢过程。针对叶片细菌的分析显示，昼夜间细菌的数量与类群组成（α多样性，alpha diversity）并未出现显著差异，但细菌群落的整体结构（β多样性，beta diversity）却随昼夜时段发生了明显偏移。部分关键细菌类群仅在日间或仅在夜间被检测到，提示其功能可能随时段发生变化。此外，我们还发现夜间植物基因与细菌间的互作关联数量更多；具体而言，部分调控昼夜节律的植物基因与特定细菌类群呈现出紧密的关联。综上，本研究结果表明，玉米与其叶部细菌的互作存在昼夜节律模式，且植物的内源生物钟可能参与调控群落中细菌的类群组成及其功能发挥。