HaCWINV2 effects on sunflower nectar microbiota

This study examines how allelic variation at the cell-wall invertase gene HaCWINV2 shapes the nectar-associated microbiota of sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Nectar was collected 24 h post-anthesis from bagged capitula of near-isogenic lines carrying either a functional HaCWINV2 allele or a loss-of-function allele, across two field seasons. DNA was extracted from nectar samples, negative controls and a spike-in dilution series of a defined mock community. Full-length bacterial 16S rRNA genes and fungal ITS regions were sequenced on an Oxford Nanopore sequencer, and reads were quality filtered and clustered into OTUs.These datasets enable investigation of how a defined nectar enzyme locus affects nectar microbial communities. A corresponding manuscript is currently in preparation.