Endophytes colonize an ecological niche similar to that of phytopathogens, which make them candidate for disease suppression. Anthracnose is a disease caused by Colletotrichum spp., a phytopathogen that can infect guarana (Paullinia cupana), an important commercial crop in the Brazilian Amazon. We investigated the diversity of endophytic bacteria inhabiting the phyllosphere of asymptomatic and symptomatic anthracnose guarana plants. The PCR-denaturation gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) fingerprints revealed differences in the structure of the evaluated communities. Detailed analysis of endophytic bacteria composition using culture-dependent and 16S rRNA clone libraries revealed the presence of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteria phyla. Firmicutes comprised the majority of isolates in asymptomatic plants (2.40E−4). However, cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA revealed differences at the genus level for Neisseria (1.4E−4), Haemophilus (2.1E−3) and Arsenophonus (3.6E−5) in asymptomatic plants, Aquicella (3.5E−3) in symptomatic anthracnose plants, and Pseudomonas (1.1E−3), which was mainly identified in asymptomatic plants. In cross-comparisons of the endophytic bacterial communities as a whole, symptomatic anthracnose plants contained higher diversity, as reflected in the Shannon–Weaver and Simpson indices estimation (P < 0.05). Similarly, comparisons using LIBSHUFF and heatmap analysis for the relative abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) showed differences between endophytic bacterial communities. These data are in agreement with the NMSD and ANOSIM analysis of DGGE profiles. Our results suggest that anthracnose can restructure endophytic bacterial communities by selecting certain strains in the phyllosphere of P. cupana. The understanding of these interactions is important for the development of strategies of biocontrol for Colletotrichum.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1037-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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a b s t r a c tThe species of bacteria associated with the traps of the carnivorous plants Utricularia hydrocarpa Vahl and Genlisea filiformis A. St.-Hil. were identified by analysing 16S rRNA gene libraries. We observed larger bacterial diversity inside the traps of U. hydrocarpa than in G. filiformis. The Clostridium genus (Firmicutes) was the dominant group in G. filiformis, while Aeromonas (␥-Proteobacteria) and Acidobacterium (Acidobacteria) were the dominant genera in U. hydrocarpa. In general, the microbial community observed in these carnivorous plants was composed of Firmicutes (46.8%), Proteobacteria (33.9%), Acidobacteria (9.3%), Actinobacteria (4.4%), Bacteroidetes (0.8%), Chloroflexi (0.4%), Gemmatimonadetes (0.4%), Cyanobacteria (0.4%), Chlamydiae (0.4%) and Tenericutes (0.4%). Only 1.2% of the observed operational taxonomic units (OTU 0.03 ) were shared by U. hydrocarpa and G. filiformis. The present study describes the dominant bacterial species associated with the traps of the carnivorous plant G. filiformis and U. hydrocarpa and briefly discusses the possible role of bacteria in plant prey utilisation.