Rhizosphere bacterial community in re-used cover crop root channels initiate responses against drought

ABSTRACT: Plant growth and development depends on the availability of nutrients and water resources in the soil. The increased frequencies of drought events over recent years have affected nutrient availability soil systems. Crops reutilising winter cover crop root channels allows access to resources from distal regions in the soil horizon. However, the availability of information regarding root channel reutilisation under drought, specifically bacterial community structures and functions is unknown. In this study, we observed the changes inflicted by drought on bacterial communities in maize (Zea mays L.) rhizospheres after reusing the winter cover crop root channels. The techniques of 16S rRNA (ribosomal ribonucleic acid) gene-based microbial profiling and metaproteomics were used to study the alterations in biochemical pathways of those communities under drought at three different locations (Hohenschulen, Karkendamm and Reinshof) comprising three different soli types (Luvisol, Podzol and Phaeozem) respectively. Besides the influence of soil properties, we noticed that under drought the relative abundances of Acidobacteriota, Actinomycetota, Planctomycetota, and Pseudomonadota increased, while Chloroflexota, Methylomirabilota, Patescibacterota, and Verrucomicrobiota decreased. At drought-prone soil types Luvisol and Podzol, aerobic communities Pseudomonadota and Verrucomicrobiota increased abundance of the glyoxylate cycle as a means of conserving carbon and energy for plausible survival measures. Higher abundance of catalase-glutathione peroxidase (CAT-PER) through the methionine cycle-transsulfuration pathway possibly alleviate reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Overall, bacterial communities in the reused cover crop root channels respond to drought by taking mitigative measures for survival.

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Soil Metagenome

SUBMITTER: Debjyoti Ghosh  

LAB HEAD: Nico Jehmlich

PROVIDER: PXD062138 | Pride | 2025-09-22

REPOSITORIES: Pride