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Plant Hosts Modify Belowground Microbial Community Response to Extreme Drought
Allison M Veach1, Huaihai Chen1, Zamin K Yang1
1Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
Msystems
|July 2, 2020
Summary
Plants help soil microbes withstand drought. Plant-microbe interactions stabilize soil microbiomes during extreme water stress, with beneficial associations enhancing plant tolerance to abiotic stress.
Area of Science:
- Microbial ecology
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Climate change adaptation
Background:
- Drought stress significantly impacts soil microbial activity and ecosystem functions.
- Plant presence and belowground interactions can mediate microbial responses to drought.
- Understanding these interactions is crucial for predicting ecosystem resilience under climate change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the presence of *Populus trichocarpa* influences soil microbiome stability during extreme drought and recovery.
- To determine the effects of plant-microbe linkages on microbial community composition and function under water stress.
- To assess the role of plant metabolites in mediating microbial drought responses.
Main Methods:
- Exposed *Populus trichocarpa* and bulk soils to extended drought, followed by rewetting and recovery.
- Analyzed plant metabolomics to identify drought-induced metabolic changes.
- Characterized soil and root-associated bacterial and fungal communities using amplicon sequencing.
Main Results:
- Drought increased plant investment in C and N metabolic pathways, with some metabolites correlating with root-associated microbial diversity.
- Soil bacterial and fungal communities shifted with plant presence and drought, while root fungal communities showed stronger drought-induced shifts.
- Plants reduced the proportion of opportunistic bacterial taxa in soils during recovery, but root fungi showed increased opportunistic taxa under drought.
Conclusions:
- Plants actively modulate soil and root-associated microbial responses to extreme drought through plant-microbe interactions.
- The recovery trajectories of microbial communities post-drought differ between bulk soils and plant-associated habitats.
- Beneficial plant-microbe associations enhance microbial tolerance to abiotic stress, contributing to ecosystem resilience.
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