Rhizosphere effect and salinity competing to shape microbial communities in Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex-Steud

Variety-driven rhizosphere microbiome bestows differential salt tolerance to alfalfa for coping with salinity stress

Soil salinization is a global environmental issue and a significant abiotic stress that threatens crop production. Root-associated rhizosphere microbiota play a pivotal role in enhancing plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. However, limited information is available concerning the specific variations in rhizosphere microbiota driven by different plant genotypes (varieties) in response to varying levels of salinity stress. In this study, we compared the growth performance of three alfalfa varieties with varying salt tolerance levels in soils with different degrees of salinization. High-throughput 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing were employed to analyze the rhizosphere microbial communities. Undoubtedly, the increasing salinity significantly inhibited alfalfa growth and reduced rhizosphere microbial diversity. However, intriguingly, salt-tolerant varieties exhibited relatively lower susceptibility to salinity, maintaining more stable rhizosphere bacterial community structure, whereas the reverse was observed for salt-sensitive varieties. Bacillus emerged as the dominant species in alfalfa's adaptation to salinity stress, constituting 21.20% of the shared bacterial genera among the three varieties. The higher abundance of Bacillus, Ensifer, and Pseudomonas in the rhizosphere of salt-tolerant alfalfa varieties is crucial in determining their elevated salt tolerance. As salinity levels increased, salt-sensitive varieties gradually accumulated a substantial population of pathogenic fungi, such as Fusarium and Rhizoctonia. Furthermore, rhizosphere bacteria of salt-tolerant varieties exhibited increased activity in various metabolic pathways, including biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, carbon metabolism, and biosynthesis of amino acids. It is suggested that salt-tolerant alfalfa varieties can provide more carbon sources to the rhizosphere, enriching more effective plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) such as Pseudomonas to mitigate salinity stress. In conclusion, our results highlight the variety-mediated enrichment of rhizosphere microbiota in response to salinity stress, confirming that the high-abundance enrichment of specific dominant rhizosphere microbes and their vital roles play a significant role in conferring high salt adaptability to these varieties.

The Effect of Date Palm Genotypes on Rhizobacterial Community Structures under Saline Environments

Some genotypes of date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are salt-tolerant; however, salinity significantly affects others. This study aimed to determine the root epiphytic bacterial contributions to the salt tolerance mechanism in the date palm and to verify if the salt-tolerant “Umsila” and the salt-susceptible “Zabad” cultivars have different bacterial communities. Therefore, the epiphytic bacterial community structures were investigated in both cultivars when grown under control and salinity conditions. The proximal soils of the roots were collected, the DNA was extracted, and a culture-independent approach using Illumina® MiSeq™ sequence analysis was carried out to identify the changes in the bacterial community structures in the soil samples due to the changes in salinity and the genotypes of the plants based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. While salt tolerance response differences were evident between the two cultivars, the 16S rRNA gene sequencing results revealed 771 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including 62 that were differentially accumulated in response to salinity. The ordination analysis showed significant (p = 0.001) changes among the communities in response to salinity in both cultivars. However, the results showed that the two cultivars had distinct bacterial communities when grown under controlled conditions, whereas they had a more similar bacterial community structure when grown under salinity conditions. The plant genotype does not affect the epiphyte bacterial community structure under salinity, probably because salinity affects the plant-microbe interaction similarly in both cultivars. Also, the identified rhizospheric bacteria are not directly associated with the root’s physiological processes in response to salinity.

Decreased spatial variation and deterministic processes of bacterial community assembly in the rhizosphere of Phragmites australis across the Middle-Lower Yangtze plain

Comparison of the spatial distribution and assembly processes between bulk and rhizosphere bacterial communities at multiple spatial scales is vital for understanding the generation and maintenance of microbial diversity under the influence of plants. However, biogeographical patterns and the underlying mechanisms of microbial communities in bulk and rhizosphere sediments of aquatic ecosystems remain unclear. Here, we collected 140 bulk and rhizosphere sediment samples of Phragmites australis from 14 lakeshore zones across a 510-km transect in the Middle-Lower Yangtze plain. We performed high-throughput sequencing to investigate the bacterial diversity, composition, spatial distribution and assembly processes of these samples. Bacterial communities in the rhizosphere sediment exhibited higher alpha diversity but lower beta diversity than those in the bulk sediment. Both bulk and rhizosphere sediment bacterial communities had significant distance-decay relationships, but spatial turnover of the rhizosphere sediment bacterial community was strikingly lower than that of bulk sediment. Despite variable selection dominating the assembly processes of bacterial communities in bulk sediment, the rhizosphere of P. australis enhanced the role of dispersal limitation in governing bacterial communities. The relative importance of different ecological processes in determining bacterial assembly presented distinct patterns of increasing or decreasing linearly with an increase of scale. This investigation highlights the convergent selection of the aquatic plant rhizosphere for surrounding bacterial communities and emphasizes the importance of different ecological processes on bacterial community assembly in sediment environments over different scales. Furthermore, we provide a preliminary framework for exploring the scale dependence of microbial community assembly in aquatic ecosystems.

Manganese oxides in Phragmites rhizosphere accelerates ammonia oxidation in constructed wetlands

Phragmites reeds are widely used in constructed wetlands (CWs) for treating wastewater. The enrichment of microorganisms and Fe/Mn plaque in Phragmites rhizospheres largely contributes to pollutant removal. However, their interactions and potential synergistic roles in water purification are poorly understood. To address the issue, we first compared the microbial community traits in the Phragmites rhizosphere and adjacent bulk soil in six long-term operated CWs. Results showed that enriched microbes and functional genes in the Phragmites rhizosphere were largely involved in Mn oxidation, resulting in a two to three times enrichment of Mn oxides in the rhizosphere. In turn, the enriched Mn oxides played significant roles in driving microbial community composition and function. To further understand the biological manganese oxidation in the rhizosphere, we identified Mn-oxidizing bacteria using genome-centric analysis and found that 92% of identified Mn-oxidizing bacteria potentially participated in nitrogen cycling. We then conducted relationships between Mn-oxidizing genes and different nitrogen cycling genes and found Mn-oxidizing gene abundance was significantly correlated with ammonia oxidation gene amoA (R = 0.65). Remarkably, complete ammonia oxidation (comammox) Nitrospira, accounting for 39.11% of ammonia oxidizers, also positively correlated with Mn-oxidizing microbes. Based on the above observations, we inferred that the use of Mn oxides as a substrate in CWs may enhance ammonia oxidation. To apply this to actual engineering, we explored treatment performance in a pilot-scale Mn-amending CW. As expected, ammonia removal capacity improved by 23.34%, on average, in the Mn-amending CW. In addition, the abundance of amoA genes increased significantly in the Mn-amending CW, indicating improved biological processes rather than chemical reactions.

Microbial Spectra, Physiological Response and Bioremediation Potential of Phragmites australis for Agricultural Production

Common reed (Phragmites australis) can invade and dominate in its natural habitat which is mainly wetlands. It can tolerate harsh environments as well as remediate polluted and environmental degraded sites such as mine dumps and other polluted wastelands. For this reason, this can be a very critical reed to reclaim wastelands for agricultural use to ensure sustainability. The present review manuscript examined the microbial spectra of P. australis as recorded in various recent studies, its physiological response when growing under stress as well as complementation between rhizosphere microbes and physiological responses which result in plant growth promotion in the process of phytoremediation. Microbes associated with P. australis include Proteobacteria, Bacteriodetes, and Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Planctomycetes families of bacteria among others. Some of these microbes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have facilitated plant growth and phytoremediation by P. australis. This is worthwhile considering that there are vast areas of polluted and wasted land which require reclamation for agricultural use. Common reed with its associated rhizosphere microbes can be utilized in these land reclamation efforts. This present study suggests further work to identify microbes which when administered to P. australis can stimulate its growth in polluted environments and help in land reclamation efforts for agricultural use.

Protist diversity and community complexity in the rhizosphere of switchgrass are dynamic as plants develop

BACKGROUND

Despite their widespread distribution and ecological importance, protists remain one of the least understood components of the soil and rhizosphere microbiome. Knowledge of the roles that protists play in stimulating organic matter decomposition and shaping microbiome dynamics continues to grow, but there remains a need to understand the extent to which biological and environmental factors mediate protist community assembly and dynamics. We hypothesize that protists communities are filtered by the influence of plants on their rhizosphere biological and physicochemical environment, resulting in patterns of protist diversity and composition that mirror previously observed diversity and successional dynamics in rhizosphere bacterial communities.

RESULTS

We analyzed protist communities associated with the rhizosphere and bulk soil of switchgrass (SG) plants (Panicum virgatum) at different phenological stages, grown in two marginal soils as part of a large-scale field experiment. Our results reveal that the diversity of protists is lower in rhizosphere than bulk soils, and that temporal variations depend on soil properties but are less pronounced in rhizosphere soil. Patterns of significantly prevalent protists groups in the rhizosphere suggest that most protists play varied ecological roles across plant growth stages and that some plant pathogenic protists and protists with omnivorous diets reoccur over time in the rhizosphere. We found that protist co-occurrence network dynamics are more complex in the rhizosphere compared to bulk soil. A phylogenetic bin-based null model analysis showed that protists' community assembly in our study sites is mainly controlled by homogenous selection and dispersal limitation, with stronger selection in rhizosphere than bulk soil as SG grew and senesced.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate that environmental filtering is a dominant determinant of overall protist community properties and that at the rhizosphere level, plant control on the physical and biological environment is a critical driver of protist community composition and dynamics. Since protists are key contributors to plant nutrient availability and bacterial community composition and abundance, mapping and understanding their patterns in rhizosphere soil is foundational to understanding the ecology of the root-microbe-soil system. Video Abstract.

Comparative Study of the Rhizosphere and Root Endosphere Microbiomes of Cholistan Desert Plants

Microbial communities associated with the rhizosphere and roots of desert halophytes play an important role in plants’ growth and development. Very limited information has been available on the microbial diversity of arid environments of Pakistan. Hence in the current study, the microbial diversity of rhizosphere and root endosphere of desert halophytes, Zygophyllum simplex, Haloxylon salicoricum, Aerva javanica, and Capparis decidua was evaluated. The rhizosphere and root endosphere samples of desert halophytes collected from the three geographic sites of Cholistan desert, Punjab, Pakistan were analyzed by using 16S rRNA based Illumina sequencing. The results showed that Proteobacteria were more abundant in the rhizospheric soils while Actinobacteria were more dominant in the root endosphere of halophytes. Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Deinococcus-Thermus were identified from all rhizospheric soils and roots across the three sites, with variable percentage. Bacillus, Kocuria, Pseudomonas, Halomonas, and Flavobacterium were commonly identified from the rhizosphere and root endosphere of halophytes across all the three sites. At the genus level, microbial diversity from Haloxylon showed the greatest variations between the rhizosphere and root endosphere from the site 2. This study revealed that microbial diversity analysis can be used to study how changes in abiotic factors such as soil moisture content and salinity affect the microbial communities associated with the rhizospheric soils and root endosphere of halophytes across the three sites. This study will also help in the discovery of potential inoculants for crops growing in arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan.

Salinity controls soil microbial community structure and function in coastal estuarine wetlands

Soil salinity acts as a critical environmental filter on microbial communities, but the consequences for microbial diversity and biogeochemical processes are poorly understood. Here, we characterized soil bacterial communities and microbial functional genes in a coastal estuarine wetland ecosystem across a gradient (~5 km) ranging from oligohaline to hypersaline habitats by applying the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA (rRNA) genes sequencing and microarray-based GeoChip 5.0 respectively. Results showed that saline soils in marine intertidal and supratidal zone exhibited higher bacterial richness and Faith's phylogenetic diversity than that in the freshwater-affected habitats. The relative abundance of taxa assigned to Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was higher with increasing salinity, while those affiliated with Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Cyanobacteria were more prevalent in wetland soils with low salinity. The phylogenetic inferences demonstrated the deterministic role of salinity filtering on the bacterial community assembly processes. The abundance of most functional genes involved in carbon degradation and nitrogen cycling correlated negatively with salinity, except for the hzo gene, suggesting a critical role of the anammox process in tidal affected zones. Overall, the salinity filtering effect shapes the soil bacterial community composition, and soil salinity act as a critical inhibitor in the soil biogeochemical processes in estuary ecosystems.

Shift in rhizospheric and endophytic bacterial communities of tomato caused by salinity and grafting

Saline water has to be used as an alternative resource in modern agriculture due to the increasing lack of fresh water. Approaches that promote the growth of crops under saline conditions have, therefore, become crucial. Grafting has been reported to be effective for this; however, the associated bacterial community remains unclear. To obtain a deeper understanding of the underlying microbial mechanisms, both grafted and non-grafted tomatoes were irrigated with three types of water having different electrical conductivity values. The experiment lasted 2.5 months, after which, the soil chemical properties and tomato heights were assessed. The rhizospheric and endophytic bacterial communities of samples from the different treatments were assessed by Illumina sequencing. The results showed that saline water significantly affected leaf-associated endophytic bacterial communities, whereas rhizosphere and root- and stem-associated bacterial communities were not affected. Increasing salinity increased the abundance of Gammaproteobacteria, but decreased the abundance of Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacilli, and Acidobacteria at the class level of the leaf-associated bacterial community. Moreover, under higher salinity levels, grafting increased the diversity of the leaf-endophytic bacterial community. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the rhizosphere and endophytic bacterial communities of tomato under saline conditions. The results highlight the importance of leaf-endophytic bacteria for salt response in plants. This is an important complementary finding to previous studies on the effect of salinity, which mainly focused on plant rhizosphere and root bacterial communities.

Phytobeneficial bacteria improve saline stress tolerance in Vicia faba and modulate microbial interaction network

Increased global warming, caused by climate change and human activities, will seriously hinder plant development, such as increasing salt concentrations in soils, which will limit water availability for plants. To ensure optimal plant growth under such changing conditions, microorganisms that improve plant growth and health must be integrated into agricultural practices. In the present work, we examined the fate of Vicia faba microbiota structure and interaction network upon inoculation with plant-nodulating rhizobia (Rhizobium leguminosarum RhOF125) and non-nodulating strains (Paenibacillus mucilaginosus BLA7 and Ensifer meliloti RhOL1) in the presence (or absence) of saline stress. Inoculated strains significantly improved plant tolerance to saline stress, suggesting either a direct or indirect effect on the plant response to such stress. To determine the structure of microbiota associated with V. faba, samples of the root-adhering soil (RAS), and the root tissues (RT) of seedlings inoculated (or not) with equal population size of RhOF125, BLA7 and RhOL1 strains and grown in the presence (or absence) of salt, were used to profile the microbial composition by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The inoculation did not show a significant impact on the composition of the RT microbiota or RAS microbiota. The saline stress shifted the RAS microbiota composition, which correlated with a decrease in Enterobacteriaceae and an increase in Sphingobacterium, Chryseobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Agrobacterium and Sinorhizobium. When the microbiota of roots and RAS are considered together, the interaction networks for each treatment are quite different and display different key populations involved in community assembly. These findings indicate that upon seed inoculation, community interaction networks rather than their composition may contribute to helping plants to better tolerate environmental stresses. The way microbial populations interfere with each other can have an impact on their functions and thus on their ability to express the genes required to help plants tolerate stresses.

Contrasting Patterns in Diversity and Community Assembly of Phragmites australis Root-Associated Bacterial Communities from Different Seasons

The common reed (Phragmites australis), a cosmopolitan aquatic macrophyte, plays an important role in the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. We compared bacterial community compositions (BCCs) and their assembly processes in the root-associated compartments (i.e., rhizosphere and endosphere) of reed and bulk sediment between summer and winter. The BCCs were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene; meanwhile, null-model analysis was employed to characterize their assembly mechanisms. The sources of the endosphere BCCs were quantitatively examined using SourceTracker from bulk sediment, rhizosphere, and seed. We observed the highest α-diversity and the lowest β-diversity of BCCs in the rhizosphere in both seasons. We also found a significant increase in α- and β-diversity in summer compared to that in winter among the three compartments. It was demonstrated that rhizosphere sediments were the main source (∼70%) of root endosphere bacteria during both seasons. Null-model tests indicated that stochastic processes primarily affected endosphere BCCs, whereas both deterministic and stochastic processes dictated bacterial assemblages of the rhizosphere, with the relative importance of stochastic versus deterministic processes depending on the season. This study suggests that multiple mechanisms of bacterial selection and community assembly exist both inside and outside P. australis roots in different seasons.IMPORTANCE Understanding the composition and assembly mechanisms of root-associated microbial communities of plants is crucial for understanding the interactions between plants and soil. Most previous studies of the plant root-associated microbiome focused on model and economic plants, with fewer temporal or seasonal investigations. The assembly mechanisms of root-associated bacterial communities in different seasons remain poorly known, especially for the aquatic macrophytes. In this study, we compared the diversity, composition, and relative importance of two different assembly processes (stochastic and deterministic processes) of bacterial communities associated with bulk sediment and the rhizosphere and endosphere of Phragmites australis in summer and winter. While we found apparent differences in composition, diversity, and assembly processes of bacterial communities among different compartments, season played important roles in determining BCCs and their diversity patterns and assemblages. We also found that endosphere bacteria mainly originated from the rhizosphere. The results add new knowledge regarding the plant-microbe interactions in aquatic ecosystems.

Rhizosphere microbial communities reflect genotypic and trait variation in a salt marsh ecosystem engineer

PREMISE

There is growing recognition that intraspecific genetic variation in plants can influence associated soil microbial communities, but the functional bridges linking plant genotype with microbial community structure are not well understood. This deficit is due in part to a prevailing focus on characterizing relationships between microbial communities and functional trait variation among plant species or across plant communities, rather than within a single species.

METHODS

We examined whether and how spatiotemporal variation in salt marsh rhizosphere microbial communities reflect plant provenance (genotypic variation) and associated trait variation within an ecosystem engineer, Spartina alterniflora. We planted S. alterniflora from four genetically distinct source populations in replicate sets of experimental plots across a shoreline in southeastern Louisiana, USA. After 2 years, we measured functional plant traits and profiled microbial communities.

RESULTS

Bacterial and fungal α-diversity and richness were significantly higher in winter than in summer and corresponded to plant trait variation associated with provenance. Notably, 20% of the variation in fungal community composition was explained by trait differences while bacterial community structure did not reflect plant provenance or trait variation. However, evidence was found suggesting that bacterial communities are indirectly shaped by the influence of plant provenance on soil physicochemical properties.

CONCLUSIONS

This study illustrates that intraspecific genetic and corresponding trait variation in an ecosystem engineer can shape rhizosphere microbial communities, with fungal communities being more responsive than bacteria to the influence of plant provenance and associated trait variation. Our results highlight the potential relevance of plant intraspecific variation in plant-microbe-soil feedbacks shaping naturally depauperate ecosystems like salt marshes.

Benthic archaeal community structure and carbon metabolic profiling of heterotrophic microbial communities in brackish sediments

Benthic Archaea play a crucial role in the biogeochemical cycles and food webs, however, their spatiotemporal distribution and environmental drivers are not well investigated in brackish sediments. The composition and abundances of benthic archaeal communities were examined from a coastal lagoon; Chilika (India) which is experiencing an intense pressure from anthropogenic and natural factors. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that sediment (n = 96) archaeal communities were largely composed of Crenarchaeota (18.76%), Euryarchaeota (18.34%), Thaumarchaeota (13.45%), Woesearchaeota (10.05%), and Pacearchaeota (4.21%). Archaeal taxa affiliated to methanogens, sulfate-reducers, and ammonia-oxidizers were detected suggesting that carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycles might be prominent in benthic sediments. Salinity, total organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, macrophyte (Phragmites karka) and inter-taxa relationships between community members and with bacterial communities played steering roles in structuring the archaeal communities. Marine sites with mesohaline-polyhaline regime were dominated by Nitrosopumilus and Thaumarchaeota. In contrast, riverine sites with oligohaline regime demonstrated a higher abundance of Thermoprotei. Macrophyte dominated zones were enriched in Methanomicrobia and Methanobacteria in their rhizosphere sediments, whereas, bulk (un-vegetated) sediments were dominated by Nitrosopumilus. Spatial patterns in archaeal communities demonstrated 'distance-decay' patterns which were correlated with changes in physicochemical factors over geographical distances. Heterotrophic microbial communities showed much higher metabolic diversity and activity in their carbon utilization profiles in rhizosphere sediments than the bulk sediments. This baseline information on benthic archaea and their environmental drivers would be useful to assess the impact of anthropogenic and natural pressures on these communities and associated biogeochemical cycles.

Root Bacteria Recruited by Phragmites australis in Constructed Wetlands Have the Potential to Enhance Azo-Dye Phytodepuration

The microbiome associated with plants used in phytodepuration systems can boost plant growth and services, especially in ecosystems dealing with recalcitrant compounds, hardly removed via traditional wastewater (WW) treatments, such as azo-dyes used in textile industry. In this context, we aimed to study the cultivable microbiome selected by Phragmites australis plants in a Constructed Wetland (CW) in Morocco, in order to obtain candidate inoculants for the phytodepuration of azo-dye contaminated WW. A collection of 152 rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria was established. The strains were phylogenetically identified and characterized for traits of interest in the phytodepuration context. All strains showed Plant Growth Promotion potential in vitro and 67% of them significantly improved the growth of a model plant in vivo compared to the non bacterized control plants. Moreover, most of the isolates were able to grow in presence of several model micropollutants typically found in WW, indicating their potential use in phytodepuration of a wide spectrum of effluents. The six most promising strains of the collection were tested in CW microcosms alone or as consortium: the consortium and two single inocula demonstrated to significantly increase the removal of the model azo-dye Reactive Black 5 compared to the non bacterized controls.

Mobility of chromium in sediments dominated by macrophytes and cyanobacteria in different zones of Lake Taihu

To study the mechanisms of chromium (Cr) mobilization in sediments of lakes with different ecotypes, seasonal sampling was performed in the macrophyte-dominated East Taihu (MDET) and cyanobacteria-dominated Meiliang Bay (CDMB) in Lake Taihu. Concentrations of labile Cr(VI) and dissolved Cr were assessed using diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) and high-resolution dialysis passive sampling devices, respectively. Results indicated that in pore water the dissolved Cr concentrations and in sediments total Cr and Cr fractions concentrations (dissolved, exchangeable and carbonate fraction (F1), Fe-Mn oxide fraction (F2), organic/sulfide fraction (F3)) were lower in MDET than in CDMB. However, the highly toxic DGT-labile Cr(VI) concentrations were higher in MDET sediments than in CDMB sediments. In the two lake zones, the seasonal variations in concentrations of dissolved Cr and DGT-labile Cr(VI) were significant, while total Cr and Cr fractions showed negligible changes (except F1 fraction). In summer, the high mobility of dissolved Cr (MDET: 103.42±10.82μg/L; CDMB: 108.99±4.24μg/L) were mainly caused by dissolved organic matter complexing with Cr(III). In winter the high mobility of dissolved Cr (MDET: 100.27±22.04μg/L; CDMB: 102.01±8.81μg/L) and DGT-labile Cr(VI) (MDET: 28.26±3.73μg/L; CDLZ: 25.82±2.26μg/L) were primarily caused by the oxidization of Cr (III) by Mn(III/IV) oxides. This study establishes the mechanisms for seasonal variation of Cr mobilization in different lake ecological zones, highlighting the urgent need for remediation of Cr pollution, especially in macrophyte-dominated lake zones.

Applying predictive models to decipher rhizobacterial modifications in common reed die-back affected populations

The microbiota inhabiting the soil, as well as the rhizosphere, represents a key determinant of several plant functions. Like for humans, dysbiosis of the plant-associated microbiota may be a co-causal agent in disease with still obscure eziology. In the last decades, the common reed Phragmites australis has been deeply studied for its disappearance from natural stands, but no clear causative agents have been identified and no laboratory models of such "reed die-back syndrome" (RDBS) have been developed. In this study, we try to shed light on the RDBS, by comparing the rhizosphere microbiota of five Italian P. australis populations with different degrees of decline. Results obtained showed a biogeographical meaningful pattern of rhizosphere microbiota, coupled with an impact of RDBS. Obtained data allowed to construct a two-steps predictive model which enabled the prediction of the plant health status from the microbiota taxonomic composition, independently from their geographic location. In conclusion, this study represents one of the first overviews that statistically links RDBS to alteration of rhizosphere microbiota and suggests a model for the analysis of plant-bacteria relationships in nature.

Bacterial microbiome of root-associated endophytes of Salicornia europaea in correspondence to different levels of salinity

The halophytes have evolved several strategies to survive in saline environments; however, an additional support from their associated microbiota helps combat adverse conditions. Hence, our driving interests to investigate the endophytic bacterial community richness, diversity, and composition associated to roots of Salicornia europaea from two test sites with different origins of soil salinity. We assumed that salinity will have a negative effect on the diversity of endophytes but simultaneously will permit the high occurrence of halophylic bacteria. Further, to establish the role of the host and its external environment in determining the endophytic diversity, we analyzed the physico-chemical parameters of root zone soil and the concentration of salt ions in the plant roots. The results based on the Miseq Illumina sequencing approach revealed a higher number of endophytic bacterial OTUs at naturally saline test site with a higher level of soil salinity. Proteobacteria and Bacteriodetes were the dominant endophytic phyla at both analyzed sites; additionally, the high occurrence of Planctomycetes and Acidobacteria at more saline site and the occurrence of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi at less saline site were recorded. The salinity in the root zone soil was crucial in structuring the endophytic community of S. europaea, and the significant prevalence of representatives from the phyla Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Caldithrix, Fibrobacteres, and Verrucomicrobia at the more saline test site suggest domination of halophylic bacteria with potential role in mitigation of salt stress of halophytes.

Rhizobacterial communities of five co-occurring desert halophytes

BACKGROUND

Recently, researches have begun to investigate the microbial communities associated with halophytes. Both rhizobacterial community composition and the environmental drivers of community assembly have been addressed. However, few studies have explored the structure of rhizobacterial communities associated with halophytic plants that are co-occurring in arid, salinized areas.

METHODS

Five halophytes were selected for study: these co-occurred in saline soils in the Ebinur Lake Nature Reserve, located at the western margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert of Northwestern China. Halophyte-associated bacterial communities were sampled, and the bacterial 16S rDNA V3-V4 region amplified and sequenced using the Illumina Miseq platform. The bacterial community diversity and structure were compared between the rhizosphere and bulk soils, as well as among the rhizosphere samples. The effects of plant species identity and soil properties on the bacterial communities were also analyzed.

RESULTS

Significant differences were observed between the rhizosphere and bulk soil bacterial communities. Diversity was higher in the rhizosphere than in the bulk soils. Abundant taxonomic groups (from phylum to genus) in the rhizosphere were much more diverse than in bulk soils. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Planctomycetes were the most abundant phyla in the rhizosphere, while Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were common in bulk soils. Overall, the bacterial community composition were not significantly differentiated between the bulk soils of the five plants, but community diversity and structure differed significantly in the rhizosphere. The diversity of Halostachys caspica, Halocnemum strobilaceum and Kalidium foliatum associated bacterial communities was lower than that of Limonium gmelinii and Lycium ruthenicum communities. Furthermore, the composition of the bacterial communities of Halostachys caspica and Halocnemum strobilaceum was very different from those of Limonium gmelinii and Lycium ruthenicum. The diversity and community structure were influenced by soil EC, pH and nutrient content (TOC, SOM, TON and AP); of these, the effects of EC on bacterial community composition were less important than those of soil nutrients.

DISCUSSION

Halophytic plant species played an important role in shaping associated rhizosphere bacterial communities. When salinity levels were constant, soil nutrients emerged as key factors structuring bacterial communities, while EC played only a minor role. Pairwise differences among the rhizobacterial communities associated with different plant species were not significant, despite some evidence of differentiation. Further studies involving more halophyte species, and individuals per species, are necessary to elucidate plant species identity effects on the rhizosphere for co-occurring halophytes.

Taxonomic structure and function of seed-inhabiting bacterial microbiota from common reed (Phragmites australis) and narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia L.)

The present study investigated the endophytic bacterial communities in the seeds of mature, natural common reed (Phragmites australis) and narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia L.). Additionally, seed endophytic bacterial communities were compared with rhizospheric and root endophytic bacterial communities using Illumina-based sequencing. Seed endophytic bacterial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria (reed, 41.24%; cattail, 45.51%), followed by Bacteroidetes (reed, 12.01%; cattail, 10.41%), Planctomycetes (reed, 10.36%; cattail, 9.09%), Chloroflexi (reed, 8.72%; cattail, 6.45%), Thermotogae (reed, 5.43%; cattail, 6.11%), Tenericutes (reed, 3.63%; cattail, 3.97%) and Spirochaetes (reed, 3.32%; cattail, 3.90%). The dominant genera were Desulfobacter (reed, 8.02%; cattail, 8.96%), Geobacter (reed, 2.74%; cattail, 2.81%), Thiobacillus (reed, 2.71%; cattail, 2.41%), Sulfurimonas (reed, 2.47%; cattail, 2.31%), Methyloversatilis (reed, 2.29%; cattail, 2.05%) and Dechloromonas (reed, 1.13%; cattail, 1.48%). Obvious distinctions were observed among the respective rhizospheric, root endophytic and seed endophytic bacterial communities. Principal coordinate analysis with weighted UniFrac distance and the heat map analysis demonstrated that the seed endophytic bacterial communities were distinct assemblages rather than a subgroup of rhizobacterial communities or root endophytic bacterial communities. These results provide new information regarding endophytic bacteria associated with seeds of wetland plants and demonstrate a variety of genera that have a strong potential to enhance phytoremediation in the wetland ecosystem.

Salinity and macrophyte drive the biogeography of the sedimentary bacterial communities in a brackish water tropical coastal lagoon

Brackish water coastal lagoons are least understood with respect to the seasonal and temporal variability in their sedimentary bacterial communities. These coastal lagoons are characterized by the steep environmental gradient and provide an excellent model system to decipher the biotic and abiotic factors that determine the bacterial community structure over time and space. Using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes from a total of 100 bulk surface sediments, we investigated the sedimentary bacterial communities, their spatiotemporal distribution, and compared them with the rhizosphere sediment communities of a common reed; Phragmites karka and a native seagrass species; Halodule uninervis in Chilika Lagoon. Spatiotemporal patterns in bacterial communities were linked to specific biotic factors (e.g., presence and type of macrophyte) and abiotic factors (e.g., salinity) that drove the community composition. Comparative assessment of communities highlighted bacterial lineages that were responsible for segregating the sediment communities over distinct salinity regimes, seasons, locations, and presence and type of macrophytes. Several bacterial taxa were specific to one of these ecological factors suggesting that species-sorting processes drive specific biogeographical patterns in the bacterial populations. Modeling of proteobacterial lineages against salinity gradient revealed that α- and γ-Proteobacteria increased with salinity, whereas β-Proteobacteria displayed the opposite trend. The wide variety of biogeochemical functions performed by the rhizosphere microbiota of P. karka must be taken into consideration while formulating the management and conservation plan for this reed. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics and functionality of sedimentary bacterial communities and highlighted the role of biotic and abiotic factors in generating the biogeographical patterns in the bacterial communities of a tropical brackish water coastal lagoon.

Lineage overwhelms environmental conditions in determining rhizosphere bacterial community structure in a cosmopolitan invasive plant

Plant-microbe interactions play crucial roles in species invasions but are rarely investigated at the intraspecific level. Here, we study these interactions in three lineages of a globally distributed plant, Phragmites australis. We use field surveys and a common garden experiment to analyze bacterial communities in the rhizosphere of P. australis stands from native, introduced, and Gulf lineages to determine lineage-specific controls on rhizosphere bacteria. We show that within-lineage bacterial communities are similar, but are distinct among lineages, which is consistent with our results in a complementary common garden experiment. Introduced P. australis rhizosphere bacterial communities have lower abundances of pathways involved in antimicrobial biosynthesis and degradation, suggesting a lower exposure to enemy attack than native and Gulf lineages. However, lineage and not rhizosphere bacterial communities dictate individual plant growth in the common garden experiment. We conclude that lineage is crucial for determination of both rhizosphere bacterial communities and plant fitness.Environmental factors often outweigh host heritable factors in structuring host-associated microbiomes. Here, Bowen et al. show that host lineage is crucial for determination of rhizosphere bacterial communities in Phragmites australis, a globally distributed invasive plant.

Ecological and functional adaptations to water management in a semiarid agroecosystem: a soil metaproteomics approach

Climate change models point to a decrease in water availability in semiarid areas that would compromise the maintenance of sustainable agriculture. Here, we used a grapefruit agroecosystem model to evaluate the responses of the active soil microbial community – as a microbial subset directly involved in soil functionality- undergoing strategies to cope with the low water availability in south-east Spain. For this purpose, we tested the impacts of: (i) water quality: transfer-water from a river (TW) or reclaimed-water from a wastewater-treatment plant (RW); and (ii) water quantity: continuous optimal amount of water or reduced irrigation (RDI) in the temporal frame when the crop is less sensitive; and their interactions. Metaproteomics revealed that the phylogenetic diversity of the active community and its functional diversity were lowered in soils with RW. RDI lowered soil respiration and functional diversity while the phylogenetic diversity remained constant. The reestablishment of full irrigation after RDI led to a recovery of soil respiration that was accompanied by an enhanced abundance of resilient bacterial populations. Bacterial populations displayed molecular mechanisms against water stress that have been conserved evolutionarily in plants. Protein-based studies shed light on ecological and functional mechanisms that govern the adaptive responses of soil microbial communities to climate-change friendly water management.

Salicornia strobilacea (Synonym of Halocnemum strobilaceum) Grown under Different Tidal Regimes Selects Rhizosphere Bacteria Capable of Promoting Plant Growth

Halophytes classified under the common name of salicornia colonize salty and coastal environments across tidal inundation gradients. To unravel the role of tide-related regimes on the structure and functionality of root associated bacteria, the rhizospheric soil of Salicornia strobilacea (synonym of Halocnemum strobilaceum) plants was studied in a tidal zone of the coastline of Southern Tunisia. Although total counts of cultivable bacteria did not change in the rhizosphere of plants grown along a tidal gradient, significant differences were observed in the diversity of both the cultivable and uncultivable bacterial communities. This observation indicates that the tidal regime is contributing to the bacterial species selection in the rhizosphere. Despite the observed diversity in the bacterial community structure, the plant growth promoting (PGP) potential of cultivable rhizospheric bacteria, assessed through in vitro and in vivo tests, was equally distributed along the tidal gradient. Root colonization tests with selected strains proved that halophyte rhizospheric bacteria (i) stably colonize S. strobilacea rhizoplane and the plant shoot suggesting that they move from the root to the shoot and (ii) are capable of improving plant growth. The versatility in the root colonization, the overall PGP traits and the in vivo plant growth promotion under saline condition suggest that such beneficial activities likely take place naturally under a range of tidal regimes.

The interaction between iron nutrition, plant species and soil type shapes the rhizosphere microbiome

Plant-associated microorganisms can stimulate plants growth and influence both crops yield and quality by nutrient mobilization and transport. Therefore, rhizosphere microbiome appears to be one of the key determinants of plant health and productivity. The roots of plants have the ability to influence its surrounding microbiology, the rhizosphere microbiome, through the creation of specific chemical niches in the soil mediated by the release of phytochemicals (i.e. root exudates) that depends on several factors, such as plants genotype, soil properties, plant nutritional status, climatic conditions. In the present research, two different crop species, namely barley and tomato, characterized by different strategies for Fe acquisition, have been grown in the RHIZOtest system using either complete or Fe-free nutrient solution to induce Fe starvation. Afterward, plants were cultivated for 6 days on two different calcareous soils. Total DNA was extracted from rhizosphere and bulk soil and 454 pyrosequencing technology was applied to V1-V3 16S rRNA gene region. Approximately 5000 sequences were obtained for each sample. The analysis of the bacterial population confirmed that the two bulk soils showed a different microbial community. The presence of the two plant species, as well as the nutritional status (Fe-deficiency and Fe-sufficiency), could promote a differentiation of the rhizosphere microbiome, as highlighted by non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis. Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloracidobacteria, Thermoleophilia, Betaproteobacteria, Saprospirae, Gemmatimonadetes, Gammaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria were the most represented classes in all the samples analyzed even though their relative abundance changed as a function of the soil, plant species and nutritional status. To our knowledge, this research demonstrate for the first time that different plants species with a diverse nutritional status can promote the development of a peculiar rhizosphere microbiome, depending on the growth substrate.

Halotolerant PGPRs Prevent Major Shifts in Indigenous Microbial Community Structure Under Salinity Stress

The resilience of soil microbial populations and processes to environmental perturbation is of increasing interest as alteration in rhizosphere microbial community dynamics impacts the combined functions of plant-microbe interactions. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of inoculation with halotolerant rhizobacteria Bacillus pumilus (STR2), Halomonas desiderata (STR8), and Exiguobacterium oxidotolerans (STR36) on the indigenous root-associated microbial (bacterial and fungal) communities in maize under non-saline and salinity stress. Plants inoculated with halotolerant rhizobacteria recorded improved growth as illustrated by significantly higher shoot and root dry weight and elongation in comparison to un-inoculated control plants under both non-saline and saline conditions. Additive main effect and multiplicative interaction ordination analysis revealed that plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculations as well as salinity are major drivers of microbial community shift in maize rhizosphere. Salinity negatively impacts microbial community as analysed through diversity indices; among the PGPR-inoculated plants, STR2-inoculated plants recorded higher values of diversity indices. As observed in the terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, the inoculation of halotolerant rhizobacteria prevents major shift of the microbial community structure, thus enhancing the resilience capacity of the microbial communities.