Evolving a plant-beneficial bacterium in soil vs. nutrient-rich liquid culture has contrasting effects on in-soil fitness.

ABSTRACT: Inoculation of plant-beneficial microbes into agricultural soils can improve crop growth, but such outcomes depend on microbial survival. Here, we assessed how exposure to prior environmental conditions impacts microbial in-soil fitness, particularly focusing on incubation in liquid culture as an unavoidable phase of inoculant production and on pre-incubation in target soils as a potential method to improve performance. We conducted experimental evolution on a phosphorus-solubilizing bacterial species, Priestia megaterium, in (i) soil only, (ii) liquid media only, and (iii) soil followed by liquid media, using population metagenomic sequencing to track mutations over time. Several typical in vitro evolutionary phenomena were observed in liquid media-incubated populations, inc

SUBMITTER: Kaminsky LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12016532 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature