Elucidating the role of soil microbiome on the relationships between tembusu individuals in Singapore

• Main Author: Loo, J-Yin
• Other Authors: Jarkko Tapani Salojarvi
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Science::Biological sciences
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157670
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Soil serves as the nurturer of all types of plant life and hosts a community of diverse organisms that have an impact on the plants’ development. Tembusu (Cytrophyllum fragrans) the national tree of Singapore, is highly robust and can thrive in various environments even in poor soil conditions. Thus, in this study we wanted to investigate bacterial and fungal composition in tembusu-associated soil and its relationship with tembusu growth. Soil microbiome of 13 tembusu from four locations in Singapore have been extracted. Overall, microbial communities in soils of tembusu were largely undistinguishable. Differences in relative abundances of bacteria in tembusu soil were detected but were similar in terms of diversity whilst for fungi, differences were negligible. A small proportion of bacteria and fungi were found to be differentially abundant. Tembusu soils demonstrated higher recruitment for Actinobacteria. Environmental factors, particularly pH, were also found to influence bacterial communities to a large extent. Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of microbial communities in tembusu and tropical soil and serves as a pathway for further studies to untangle complexities of soil microbiome.