Pinus heldreichii is a high-altitude coniferous tree species naturaly occurring in small and disjuncted populations in the Balkans and southern Italy. The aim of this study was to assess diversity and composition of fungal communities in living needles of P. heldreichii specifically focusing on fungal pathogens. Sampling was carried out at six different sites in Montenegro, where 2-4 year-old living needles of P. heldreichii were collected. Following DNA isolation, it was amplified using ITS2 rDNA as a marker and subjected to high-throughput sequencing. Sequencing resulted in 31,831 high quality reads, which after assembly were found to represent 375 fungal taxa. The detected fungi were 295 (78.7%) Ascomycota, 79 (21.0%) Basidiomycota and 1 (0.2%) Mortierellomycotina. The most common fungi were Lophodermium pinastri (12.5% of all high-quality sequences), L. conigenum (10.9%), Sydowia polyspora (8.8%), Cyclaneusma niveum (5.5%), Unidentified sp. 2814_1 (5.4%) and Phaeosphaeria punctiformis (4.4%). The community composition varied among different sites, but in this respect two sites at higher altitudes (harsh growing conditions) were separated from three sites at lower altitudes (milder growing conditions), suggesting that environmental conditions were among major determinants of fungal communities associated with needles of P. heldreichii. Trees on one study site were attacked by bark beetles, leading to discolouration and frequent dieback of needles, thereby strongly affecting the fungal community structure. Among all functional groups of fungi, pathogens appeared to be an important component of fungal communities in the phyllosphere of P. heldreichii, especially in those trees under strong abiotic and biotic stress.

中文翻译：

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樟子松（Pinus holdreichii H. Christ）毛状体的真菌多样性—地中海地区的一种地方性高海拔松树

松树松是一种高海拔的针叶树种，自然存在于巴尔干半岛和意大利南部的零散种群中。这项研究的目的是评估在P.holdreichii活针中的真菌群落的多样性和组成，特别是针对真菌病原体。在黑山的六个不同地点进行了采样，那里有2-4岁的P.holdreichii活针。被收集。DNA分离后，使用ITS2 rDNA作为标记进行扩增，并进行高通量测序。测序产生了31,831个高质量的读段，这些读段在组装后被发现代表375个真菌类群。检出的真菌为295（78.7％）子囊菌，79（21.0％）担子菌和1（0.2％）Mortierellomycotina。最常见的真菌是松果夜蛾（Lophodermium pinastri）（占所有高质量序列的12.5％），圆锥形乳杆菌（L. conigenum）（10.9％），多孢子 藻（Sydowia polyspora）（8.8％），青紫气仙（Cyclaneusma niveum）（5.5％），未鉴定的sp。2814_1（5.4％）和点状杆菌（4.4％）。群落组成在不同地点之间有所不同，但是在这方面，较高海拔的两个地点（恶劣的生长条件）与较低海拔的三个地点（温和的生长条件）分开，这表明环境条件是与针相关的真菌群落的主要决定因素举行的体育。一个研究地点的树木受到树皮甲虫的攻击，导致变色和针头频繁枯死，从而强烈影响了真菌的群落结构。在真菌的所有功能组中，病原体似乎是P.holdreichii菌毛层真菌群落的重要组成部分，尤其是在受到非生物和生物胁迫强烈的树木中。