Atmospheric fungal diversity of grapevine Raw sequence reads. Atmospheric fungal diversity of grapevine

The structure and dynamics of airborne fungal communities of grapevine from bloom to harvest in organic and conventional vineyards were characterized in the province of Taranto, southern Italy. A total of 5,310 OTUs clustered at a 97% similarity threshold and assigned to 7 phyla, including Ascomycota (92.3%), Basidiomycota (5.7%), Zygomycota (1.70%), Chytridiomycota (0.20%), and Glomeromycota (0.10%). Overall, 638 fungal genera were detected with Alternaria, Mycosphaerella, and Stemphylium representing approximately 70% of the total fungal community. Many taxa, commonly regarded as grape fungal pathogens were detected but most had a very low relative abundance. Potential biocontrol agents, such as Aureobasidium and Cryptococcus, were also detected. Data analysis indicated that management practice had a statistically significant impact on the structure of fungal community. Community dynamics, however, were similar in both organic and conventional farms. Both exhibited similar trends, which appeared to be related to the biology of the taxa, rather than management practice. Results of the present study provide information on the airborne fungal populations in grape vineyards and contribute to a more complete understanding of how the composition of the aeromycobiota potentially contribute to the grape microbiome.