Endophytic Bacterial Community Structure and Functional Prediction in Roots of Phragmites australis from the Lhalu Wetland, XiZang

To systematically investigate the community structure of root endophytic bacteria in the dominant wetland plant Phragmites australis, we conducted an integrated analysis combining traditional culture dependent isolation with Illumina high-throughput sequencing of 16S rDNA genes from 17 sampling sites across the Lhalu Wetland in XiZang. The potential ecological functions of these bacterial communities were predicted using the FAPROTAX database. This study aims to elucidate the resource characteristics of endophytic microorganisms associated with this key plant species in a high-altitude urban wetland, thereby providing a theoretical basis for exploring microbial resources and ecological functions in high-altitude wetlands.The high-throughput sequencing results revealed extensive diversity, annotating a total of 53 phyla, 131 classes, 290 orders, 451 families, and 1,032 genera. The dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, and Firmicutes, while the dominant genera were Pseudomonas and Aeromonas. In contrast, the culture-dependent method yielded 424 isolates, which were classified into 2 phyla, 4 classes, 7 orders, 9 families, 18 genera, and 58 species. The predominant cultivated groups were the phylum Proteobacteria, the class Gammaproteobacteria, and the genus Pseudomonas. Functional prediction indicated that the endophytic bacterial community possesses 35 potential ecological functions, predominantly chemheterotrophy.This study preliminarily establishes a resource library and functional gene catalogue for root endophytic bacteria in Phragmites australis from the Lhalu Wetland, laying a foundation for in-depth exploration of plant-microbe interactions in wetland ecosystems. The integration of both culturomic and high-throughput sequencing approaches provided a more comprehensive understanding of the microbial community.