Abstract
Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element in the human body. Se-enriched agricultural products obtained by applying Se fertilizer are important sources of Se supplements. Se affects many aspects of plant growth, yields, and physiological characteristics. However, little is known about the changes in the composition and diversity of plant endophytic microbial communities under exogenous Se treatment. Here, we demonstrate that the foliar application of Se fertilizer significantly increases Se accumulation in konjac tissues and notably alters the composition and diversity of endophytic bacterial and fungal communities across different plant tissues. The root and corm microbiota showed the most significant response to Se. Compared with the untreated control group, the Se-treated group presented significantly increased Chao1 indices of bacterial communities in root tissues, along with higher Shannon and Chao1 indices of fungal communities in corm tissues. We also reported that foliar Se application promoted the enrichment of beneficial microorganisms such as Actinobacteriota, Firmicutes, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces across different plant tissues of A. muelleri. Our findings establish a foundation for the development of Se-enriched konjac and for exploring and utilizing its functional microbial communities.
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Data availability
Sequence data that support the findings of this study have been deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database under the accession number PRJNA1274641.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department (grant nos. 202503AP140005, 202501AU070008, 202449CE340009); the Yunnan Education Department Research Project (grant nos. FWCY-QYCT2025017, 2025J0753, 2023J0827); the Talent Introduction Program of Kunming University (no. YJL24014) and the Yunnan Province Yu Lei Expert Grassroots Research Workstation (grant no. 20231023-135).
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MY and PH conceived and designed the experiments; MY analyzed the microbiome data, wrote and edited the article; PH and JLW performed the experiments and collected the samples; JHY and LT analyzed and performed the data visualization; LY contributed to the revision of the manuscript. All the authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
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We confirm that all the experimental research and field studies on plants (whether cultivated or wild), including the collection of plant material, complied with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. The corms of A. muelleri (cultivar: 'Zhuyajin No. 1') used in this study were provided by the Key Laboratory of Konjac Biology of Yunnan Province, Kunming University. The laboratory holds the Plant Variety Rights Certificate for the cultivar 'Zhuyajin No. 1', issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. All materials are owned by the authors, and no additional permissions were needed.
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Yang, M., He, P., Wu, J. et al. Effects of exogenous selenium treatment on the composition of endophytic bacterial and fungal communities in Amorphophallus muelleri. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36279-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36279-7
