Habitat Filtering Shapes Root Endophytic Microbiome Assembly and Its Association with Fruit Quality in Lycium...

Lycium ruthenicum is a typical desert halophyte with strong stress resistance and high medicinal value in the Tarim Basin. Root endophytic microbes play critical roles in host adaptation, nutrient cycling, and secondary metabolite accumulation. To clarify the diversity patterns of root endophytic bacteria and fungi and their relationships with environmental factors and fruit quality, high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze microbial community characteristics of Lycium ruthenicum collected from different habitats in the Tarim Basin. The results showed that rarefaction curves of alpha diversity indices (Chao1, Shannon, Pielou_e) tended to be saturated, indicating sufficient sequencing depth. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) revealed significant habitat-driven differentiation in both bacterial and fungal community structures. Community composition analysis showed that the relative abundance of dominant taxa at the phylum and genus levels differed significantly among sampling sites. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated that bacterial and fungal networks exhibited high modularity and were dominated by positive synergistic interactions, with Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Sphingomonas, Alternaria, and Fusarium as key hub genera. Moreover, root endophytic communities were significantly correlated with climatic variables, soil physicochemical properties, and fruit quality traits, including anthocyanin (AC), proanthocyanidin (PA), total flavonoids (TF), and total polyphenols (TP). Several keystone microbial genera were closely associated with the accumulation of functional metabolites in fruits. This study reveals the biogeographic distribution and co-occurrence characteristics of root endophytes in Lycium ruthenicum and provides a theoretical basis for understanding microbe-host-environment interactions and the quality improvement of desert medicinal plants.