Abstract
Plant root-associated microbial symbionts comprise the plant rhizobiome. These microbes function in provisioning nutrients and water to their hosts, impacting plant health and disease. The plant microbiome is shaped by plant species, plant genotype, soil and environmental conditions, but the contributions of these variables are hard to disentangle from each other in natural systems. We used bioassay common garden experiments to decouple plant genotype and soil property impacts on fungal and bacterial community structure in the Populus rhizobiome. High throughput amplification and sequencing of 16S, ITS, 28S and 18S rDNA was accomplished through 454 pyrosequencing. Co-association patterns of fungal and bacterial taxa were assessed with 16S and ITS datasets. Community bipartite fungal-bacterial networks and PERMANOVA results attribute significant difference in fungal or bacterial communities to soil origin, soil chemical properties and plant genotype. Indicator species analysis identified a common set of root bacteria as well as endophytic and ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with Populus in different soils. However, no single taxon, or consortium of microbes, was indicative of a particular Populus genotype. Fungal-bacterial networks were over-represented in arbuscular mycorrhizal, endophytic, and ectomycorrhizal fungi, as well as bacteria belonging to the orders Rhizobiales, Chitinophagales, Cytophagales, and Burkholderiales. These results demonstrate the importance of soil and plant genotype on fungal-bacterial networks in the belowground plant microbiome.
Highlights
Living plants, soils and microbiota interact and function in a zone known as the root microbiome (Lundberg et al, 2012)
We report on common garden “trap-plant” experiments aimed at disentangling effects of host genotype and soil origin on networks of fungal and bacterial communities that comprise the root microbiome of Populus deltoides
Trap-plant bioassay experiments were designed to discern effects of host genotype and soil origin on root microbiomes of Populus
Summary
Soils and microbiota interact and function in a zone known as the root microbiome (Lundberg et al, 2012). This zone of biological activity is characterized by elevated rates of respiration, nutrient turnover, and carbon sequestration, highlighting its importance to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Populus deltoides is well adapted to riparian habitats This tree species functions in a pioneer and late-stage niche along river banks, establishing from seed or from branches that fall, root and become partially buried during flooding events (Shakya et al, 2013). Recruitment processes for P. deltoides root-microbiome associates, and their stability and change over time and space, are still not well understood
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