Data for: Relatively rare root endophytic bacteria drive plant resource allocation patterns and tissue nutrient concentration in unpredictable ways

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Premise of Study</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Plant endophytic bacterial strains can influence plant traits such as leaf area and root length. Yet, the influence of more complex bacterial communities in regulating overall plant phenotype is less explored. Here, we conducted two complementary experiments to test if we can predict plant phenotype response to changes in microbial community composition. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Methods</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>In the first study, we inoculated a single genotype of <i>Populus deltoides</i>with individual root endophytic bacteria and measured plant phenotype. Next, single inoculation data were used to predict phenotypic traits in mixed three-member community inoculations, which we tested in the second experiment. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Key Results</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>When in isolation, each bacterial endophyte significantly but weakly altered plant phenotype relative to non-inoculated plants. In mixture, bacterial strain <i>Burkholderia</i>BT03, constituted at least 98% of community relative abundance. Yet, plant resource allocation and tissue nutrient concentrationswere disproportionately influenced by <i>Pseudomonas </i>sp.GM17, GM30, and GM41. We found a 10% increase in leaf mass fraction and a 11% decrease in root mass fraction when replacing<i>Pseudomonas </i>GM17 with GM41 in communities containing both <i>Pseudomonas </i>GM30 and <i>Burkholderia</i>BT03. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Conclusions</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Our results indicate that interactions among endophytic bacteria may drive plant phenotype over the contribution of each strain individually. Additionally, we have shown that low-abundant strains contribute to plant phenotype challenging the assumption that the dominant strains will drive plant function.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>