Apple microbial communities and differences between two main Chinese producing regions

Abstract Microbes on fresh apples are closely associated with fruit disease, preservation, and quality control. Investigation into the microbial communities on apples from different producing regions could reveal the microbial specificity and help disease prevention and quality control. In this paper, the apple surface microbes of 44 samples from two main Chinese apple-producing regions, Bohai Bay (BHB) and the Loess Plateau (LP), were investigated by sequencing fungal internal transcribed spacer and bacterial 16S rRNA hypervariable sequences. BHB and LP apples contained significantly different bacterial and fungal communities. BHB apples had a higher fungal diversity than LP apples. A total of 102 different fungal and bacterial taxonomies were obtained between apples from the two regions, in which 24 genera were predominant. BHB apples had higher phytopathogenic fungal genera, such as Tilletiopsis, Acremonium, Candida, and Phoma, indicating the higher phytopathogenic risks of apples from the humid climate of the BHB region. LP apples contained more bacterial genera identified as gut microbes, indicating the potential risks of contaminating apples with foodborne pathogens in the arid environment of the LP. This study highlighted the environment-oriented microbial specificity on apples from two main apple-producing regions, and provided a basis for further investigation.