Project description:Background: The soil environment is responsible for sustaining most terrestrial plant life on earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the important functions carried out by diverse microbial communities in soil. Soil microbes that inhabit the channels of decaying root systems, the detritusphere, are likely to be essential for plant growth and health, as these channels are the preferred locations of new root growth. Understanding the microbial metagenome of the detritusphere and how it responds to agricultural management such as crop rotations and soil tillage will be vital for improving global food production. Methods: The rhizosphere soils of wheat and chickpea growing under + and - decaying root were collected for metagenomics sequencing. A gene catalogue was established by de novo assembling metagenomic sequencing. Genes abundance was compared between bulk soil and rhizosphere soils under different treatments. Conclusions: The study describes the diversity and functional capacity of a high-quality soil microbial metagenome. The results demonstrate the contribution of the microbiome from decaying root in determining the metagenome of developing root systems, which is fundamental to plant growth, since roots preferentially inhabit previous root channels. Modifications in root microbial function through soil management, can ultimately govern plant health, productivity and food security.
Project description:Arsenic (As) bioavailability in the rice rhizosphere is influenced by many microbial interactions, particularly by metal-transforming functional groups at the root-soil interface. This study was conducted to examine As-transforming microbes and As-speciation in the rice rhizosphere compartments, in response to two different water management practices (continuous and intermittently flooded), established on fields with high to low soil-As concentration. Microbial functional gene composition in the rhizosphere and root-plaque compartments were characterized using the GeoChip 4.0 microarray. Arsenic speciation and concentrations were analyzed in the rhizosphere soil, root-plaque, porewater and grain samples. Results indicated that intermittent flooding significantly altered As-speciation in the rhizosphere, and reduced methyl-As and AsIII concentrations in the pore water, root-plaque and rice grain. Ordination and taxonomic analysis of detected gene-probes indicated that root-plaque and rhizosphere assembled significantly different metal-transforming functional groups. Taxonomic non-redundancy was evident, suggesting that As-reduction, -oxidation and -methylation processes were performed by different microbial groups. As-transformation was coupled to different biogeochemical cycling processes establishing functional non-redundancy of rice-rhizosphere microbiome in response to both rhizosphere compartmentalization and experimental treatments. This study confirmed diverse As-biotransformation at root-soil interface and provided novel insights on their responses to water management, which can be applied for mitigating As-bioavailability and accumulation in rice grains.
Project description:The presence of genetic groups of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae in soil is shaped by its adaptability to specific soil and habitat types, and by soil insect populations. Although the entomopathogenic life style of this fungus is well studied, its saprophytic life style has received little consideration. While a set of functionally related genes can be commonly expressed for the adaptability of this fungus to different environments (insect cuticle, insect blood and root exudates), a different subset of genes is also expected for each environment. In order to increase the knowledge of the potential use of M. anisopliae as a rhizosphere competent organism, in this study we evaluated the genetic expression of this fungus while growing on plant root exudates in laboratory conditions during a time course.
Project description:Phosphate (P) fertilization induces a myriad of plant rhizosphere processes, required for a better P plant use. However, extended knowledge about plant responses to polyphosphates (PolyP) is still scarce, particularly transcriptomic and functional traits of root-induced rhizosphere processes. The present study aims to investigate belowground traits related to root transcriptomic changes, rhizosphere acidification, root growth, and P acquisition of durum wheat under PolyPs (PolyB and PolyC) supply. Root molecular traits were differentially expressed in response to PolyPs types, with 2481 and 184 genes were differentially expressed (compared to OrthoP) under PolyB (445 up- and 2036 down-regulated) and PolyC (71 up- and 113 down-regulated), respectively. Specifically, PolyB significantly influenced the expression of genes encoding the key enzymes in glycolysis, citrate cycle and acid phosphatases, OGDH, MDH, and ENO, PAP21 genes were upregulated, while TPI, PFK and LDH genes were downregulated. The modulated expression of TCA cycle and PAP genes can presumably explain the induced rhizosphere acidification (pH decreased from 8 to 6.3) and acid phosphatases activity (in root, rhizosphere soil and rhizosphere soil solution) under PolyPs, which consequently increased rhizosphere soil P availability (145% compared to OrthoP). This increase in P availability was concomitant with the modulation of root morphological traits and the upregulation of the AUX1 and ABA transporters genes, indicating PolyPs regulatory role in root growth for efficient P uptake. Moreover, PolyB significantly upregulated the expression of SPX3, which is indispensable for the absorption and transport of inorganic P to both roots and shoots. This was physiologically reflected by the increased shoot (36%) and root (61%) Pi contents in response to PolyB compared to OrthoP. Taken together, our findings provide novel and consistent evidence that enhanced P acquisition from PolyPs entails coordinated regulation of the expression of genes related to root-rhizosphere processes (rhizosphere acidification and phosphatases exudation) and root morphology, which consequently induces physiological adaptive traits enabling enhanced availability, acquisition of P, and wheat growth performance.
Project description:This data set contains 1376 mass spectrometry reads from root, rhizosphere and leaf sample of Populus Trichocarpa, as well as associated controls. This metabolomics data set was collected as part of a larger campaign which complements the metabolomics data with metagenome sequencing, transcriptomics, and soil measurement data.