Abstract
The rhizosphere microbiome is key in survival, development, and stress tolerance in plants. Salinity, drought, and extreme temperatures are frequent events in the Atacama Desert, considered the driest in the world. However, little information of the rhizosphere microbiome and its possible contribution to the adaptation and tolerance of plants that inhabit the desert is available. We used a high-throughput Illumina MiSeq sequencing approach to explore the composition, diversity, and functions of fungal and bacterial communities of the rhizosphere of Baccharis scandens and Solanum chilense native plants from the Atacama Desert. Our results showed that the fungal phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota and the bacterial phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the dominant taxa in the rhizosphere of both plants. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LefSe) of the rhizosphere communities associated with B. scandens showed the genera Penicillium and Arthrobacter were the preferential taxa, whereas the genera Oidiodendron and Nitrospirae was the preferential taxa in S. chilense. Both plant showed similar diversity, richness, and abundance according to Shannon index, observed OTUs, and evenness. Our results indicate that there are no significant differences (p = 0.1) between the fungal and bacterial communities of both plants, however through LefSe, we find taxa associated with each plant species and the PCoA shows a separation between the samples of each species. This study provides knowledge to relate the assembly of the microbiome to the adaptability to drought stress in desert plants.
Highlights
The rhizosphere is the zone of soil around the roots and is influenced by root exudates regulating proliferation and the activity of several soil microorganisms [1]
Plants that inhabit the Atacama Desert have been studied for their high tolerance to drought, Plantssaltinhiatyt, irnadhiaabtioitn,thanedAetxatrceamme atemDpeesreartut rhesa.vIne pbaeretincuslatru, dSi.ecdhilfenosre,tghieviernhitisghhigtholteolrearnanccee ttoo drought, salinity, rahstdyudidaryitc,iwodenef,ihcaaitvn,ehdfaosecbxuesteerndemuosneedthteaesmrhapimzeoorsdpaehtlueprrelea,snin.t ionIrndpehpryatsorioteilxocpgulilocaarelr,aanSpd.omcshsoiiblleleecnursloael,re sgotfuivmdeiiencsro[i4ot1sr,g4ha2ni].gisIhmn sotouinrlerance to hydric detfihceitin, dhuacstiboneeonf tuolseeradncaestao mtheodhyedlrpicladnefticiint cphharyasctieorliostgicicoaf larainddzomneos.leWcue lhaarvestduedscireisbe[d41th,4e2]
Our results showed that both plants harbor Ascomycota as the dominant phyla followed and have Bidaseidniotimfiyecdotag
Summary
The rhizosphere is the zone of soil around the roots and is influenced by root exudates regulating proliferation and the activity of several soil microorganisms [1]. The biological and chemical activities of the rhizosphere are influenced by the metabolic compounds exuded by the roots, including organic acids, sugars, amino acids, small peptides, secondary metabolites, among others [3]. These organic compounds increase the growth of the microbiota and act as chemical signals with different effects in the plants. Rhizosphere microorganisms can promote plant growth by direct and indirect mechanisms. Indirect mechanisms include production of siderophores [5,6], production of low molecular weight organic acids [7,8], mineralization of organic matter making nutrients available for the plants, protection against phytopathogens, among others [9]. Changes in the structure of the microbial communities associated with the roots have been observed indicating a selective pressure determined by the plant on the rhizosphere microbiome [10]
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