Role of pollinators in microbiome development on apple flowers

The flower microbiome is relatively less studied as compared to root- or leaf-associated microbiomes yet it plays important roles in pollinator interactions and resistance to plant diseases. During petal open, the nutrient rich, internal flower parts are exposed to the environment thus providing a good model to study microbiome assembly and succession. Here, we compared the microbiome assembly on apple flowers in the presence and absence of the pollinators using insect exclusion netting. We observed that netting had a minor impact on microbiota alpha- and beta-diversity but flower developmental stage was strong modulator of the microbiome structure.