Microbial reassembly-driven multi-niche functional compensation alleviates uranium stress in rapeseed

Area of Science:

• Environmental microbiology
• Plant science
• Soil science

Background:

• Uranium pollution poses risks to soil and plant health.
• The role of microbes in plant adaptation to uranium stress across different plant tissues is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate how soil microbial community reassembly influences rapeseed growth under uranium stress.
• Explore microbial adaptation and functional compensation mechanisms in soil, roots, and leaves.

Main Methods:

• Pot experiment with rapeseed under control and uranium stress (150 mg·kg⁻¹).
• Analysis of plant growth, uranium accumulation, and microbial communities (16S rRNA) in soil, rhizosphere, roots, and leaves.

Main Results:

• Uranium primarily accumulated in roots, with minimal translocation to shoots.
• Microbial community structure was more influenced by ecological niche than soil treatment or uranium stress.
• Uranium stress enriched the microbial community with tolerant and growth-promoting bacteria, such as Mesorhizobium, Streptomyces, and Castellaniella.

Conclusions:

• Niche differentiation is key to microbial community assembly under stress.
• Functional restoration does not necessitate complete structural recovery of microbial communities.
• Enriched microbial consortia show potential for combined plant-microbe remediation of uranium-contaminated sites.