Soil protist communities form a dynamic hub in the soil microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Soil microbes are essential for soil fertility. However, most studies focus on bacterial and/or fungal communities, while the top-down drivers of this microbiome composition, protists, remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated how soil amendments affect protist communities and inferred potential interactions with bacteria and fungi. Specific fertilization treatments impacted both the structure and function of protist communities. Organic fertilizer amendment strongly reduced the relative abundance of plant pathogenic protists and increased bacterivorous and omnivorous protists. The addition of individual biocontrol bacteria and fungi further altered the soil protist community composition, and eventually function. Network analysis integrating protist, bacterial and fungal community da

SUBMITTER: Xiong W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5776453 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature