{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T15:23:03Z","timestamp":1786116183216,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785974400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Chongqing Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System","award":["CQMAITS202511"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CQMAITS202511"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A plant pathogen is a deterministic factor affecting the plant microbiome. However, whether the influence of different pathogen species on the plant microbiome is consistent is not well-known. In this study, mulberry leaves with similar spots caused by two diseases\u2014mulberry brown spot (MBS, caused by Neophloeospora maculans) and mulberry snags rotten leaves disease (MSRL, caused by Boeremia exigua var. mori)\u2014along with asymptomatic leaves, were collected. Their endophytic fungal and bacterial communities were sequenced. The occurrence of MSRL reduced leaf fungal richness and diversity (observed species from 329 to 203; Shannon diversity index from 3.6 to 2.6, p &lt; 0.05; phylogenetic diversity index from 45.8 to 20.6, p &lt; 0.05), along with leaf bacterial diversity; in contrast, the occurrence of MBS had little effect on both fungal and bacterial richness and diversity. Both diseases significantly altered the composition and structure of leaf fungal communities, whereas only MBS did so for bacterial communities. For the dominant genera, the fungal genera, except Cercospora, were differently affected by the occurrence of MBS and MSRL, while the bacterial genera Pseudomonas (from 8.3% to 30.6%, p &lt; 0.05 for MBS; from 23.1% to 28.1% for MSRL), Massilia (0.2% to 7.7%, p &lt; 0.05; 2.1% to 6.1%), Chryseobacterium (0.1% to 0.3%; 2.7% to 7%), Pantoea (2.6% to 3.7%; 0.4% to 1%), and Aureimonas (0.7% to 1.4%; 1.3% to 1.7%) were consistently enriched by both diseases. In addition, Chryseobacterium (LDA score = 4.6, p &lt; 0.01) was detected as a biomarker after the occurrence of MSRL. Intriguingly, there were four times more significant fungi\u2013bacteria positive associations induced by the occurrence of MSRL compared to MBS (10.2% to 2.5%). Taken together, the responses of mulberry leaf microbiome to pathogen infection vary in response to the pathogen species; although several bacterial genera were consistently enriched, whether their enrichment reflects their antagonistic roles in fungal\u2014bacterial inter-kingdom interactions remains to be determined and should be interpreted with further experimental tests.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14081724","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T08:08:02Z","timestamp":1786003682000},"page":"1724","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Species-Specific Pathogens Drive Distinct Structural and Inter-Kingdom Dynamics in the Mulberry Leaf Microbiome"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4363-8998","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Quan","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenxi","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiequn","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhangyun","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingan","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Three Gorges Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanzhou 404155, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8406-5068","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Feng","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xue, R., Chen, L., Sun, C., Muhammad, A., and Shao, Y. 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