Table 4.

(a) Interactions between host plants and phyllospheric microorganisms studied using culture-independent approaches and (b) interactions between phyllospheric microorganisms investigated cultivation independently

Aims of investigations	Objects	Methods	Results	References
(a)
Influence of plant genetic traits on the diversity of the epiphytic bacterial community and on plant disease susceptibility	Leaves of maize (Zea mays) recombinant inbred lines	T-RFLP analysis, QTL analysis of the maize chromosome	Loci (QTL) determining the leaf bacterial diversity were identified in the maize chromosome. A genetic correlation between bacterial diversity and disease susceptibility was detected.	Balint-Kurti et al. (2010)
Influence of leaf properties on within-species variation in bacterial population diversity and structure	26 lettuce (Lactuca spec.) accessions	T-RFLP and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries	Levels of soluble carbohydrate, water content and leaf bliste ring significantly determined the composition of the bacterial population.	Hunter et al. (2010)
Effects of plant gene mutations on the composition of stem-associated bacterial community	Stems of soya beans (Glycine max) wild type and non-nodulated and hypernodulated mutants	Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries	Genetic alteration in the nodulation/mycorrhization signalling pathways also altered the plant microbial communities, additionally to rhizobia and mycorrhizae.	Ikeda et al. (2010b)
Effects of transgenic changes in plants on the composition of bacterial and fungal communities	Leaves of transgenic (Bacillus thuringiensis protein) cotton at various growth stages	DGGE and sequencing of 16S/18S rRNA gene clone libraries	Due to transgenic Bt cotton, bacterial diversity was decreased at the budding stage only. Fungal diversity and abundancy slightly increased at different stages.	Pan et al. (2012)
Effects of leaf trichomes on the microbial community composition on leaves	Leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and a trichomeless mutant	Microscopic enumeration of DAPI-stained cells, DGGE and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries	Cell counts in leaf washings did not significantly differ between the plant lines. The composition of cuticular waxes on leaves of mutant and wild type was nearly similar. Trichomes did not affect bacterial diversity.	Reisberg et al. (2012)
(b)
Assessing the relative proportions of bacterial genera on various lettuce accessions	26 lettuce (Lactuca spec.) accessions	T-RFLP and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries	Bacteria of the genus Enterobacter affected the leaf colonization by those of the genus Erwinia.	Hunter et al. (2010)
Effects of black fungi on the bacterial community under conventional and organic viticultural conditions	Leaves, shoots and grapes of grapevine (Vitis vinifera)	qPCR of Aureobasidium pullulans, SSCP and sequencing of 16S rDNA gene clone libraries	No differences in bacterial diversity under organic viticulture with black fungi enrichment and on conventionally managed plants.	Grube et al. (2011)
Influence of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) on the composition of the bacterial community	Leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tobacum)	DGGE and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, phosphate lipid fatty acid analyses	AHLs induced variability in the composition of the bacterial community. In particular, Grampositive species, which do not use these compounds for QS, were affected.	Lv et al. (2012)