Massively parallel 454-sequencing of Quercus spp. ectomycorrhizosphere

Sequencing of fungal communities in Quercus spp. ectomycorrhizosphere indicates differences in fungal community composition, richness, and diversity among urban and rural environments This study targeted the fungal communities colonizing the rhizosphere of Quercus spp. in urban and non-urban environments within and outside of Manhattan, Kansas. The study combined massively parallel 454 sequencing of the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS1) amplicons with DNA tagging to compare fungal species richness, diversity and the community composition among oak trees located in urban and adjacent rural environments. The study uses a repeated measures experimental design with the land use and the sites nested within the land use as main effects between subjects. As the samples were collected three times during the growing season of 2007, the within subjects effects include the sampling time and its interactions with the between subjects effects. The data show that fungal richness and diversity were significantly lower in the urban environment and that the urban environment selects distinct fungal communities. FJ776018-FJ784103 are ribosomal RNA sequences associated with this project.