What happens with bacteria in the roots affects what happens with fungi in the leaves

The high abundance of tree species from the Fabaceae family in tropical ecosystems can be attributed to their ability to establish symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots. However, the impact of this specific symbiosis on other microbial relationships throughout the tree remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we employed amplicon metabarcoding of ITS2 sequences to analyze the endophytic fungal communities of eight tropical Fabaceae tree species, four of which possess nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Additionally, we investigated potential differences in fungal community composition between members of the Papilionoideae and Caesalpinioideae subfamilies.