Journal Article

Bacterial communities are associated with the tuber size of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum in stony soils

Shao Qingsong, Qin Wensheng, Shen Dengfeng, Wei, Bin, Guo Haipeng, Hong Chuntao, Zheng Bingsong, Zhang, Jianhong

2021

Overview

Plants grown in stony soils have better developed root systems and higher crop yields. The roles of physical and chemical effects of stony soils on plant growth have been published, but the roles of soil microbiota have not been investigated. In this study, Tetrastigma hemsleyanum plants were cultivated for 2 years in stony soils and the same soils after removing rock fragments (non-stony soils). The composition of bacterial community and the tuber transcriptome were analyzed, using multiple bioinformatics methods. Compared with non-stony soils, stony soils supported a significantly different bacterial community, which was associated with larger tuber size of T. hemsleyanum. Stony soils had greater bacterial diversity, co-occurrence network complexity, and greater abundance of bacterial taxa belonging to Actinobacteria, Rokubacteria, Rhizobiales, Desulfarculaceae, and Chthoniobacteraceae than the corresponding microbiota in non-stony soils. The differential soil bacterial communities between stony and non-stony soils may be mainly driven by soil physicochemical properties, such as available S, organic matter, and pH. The discriminatory bacterial taxa of soils shaped the bacterial communities of rhizosphere soil, and tuber surface soil (TS), which was strongly correlated with tuber size parameters. In addition, the potential functions of the discriminatory bacterial taxa in TS corresponded closely with gene pathways of the host, like phytohormone biosynthesis, photosynthesis, and biotic stress resistance, which are crucial for the initiation and development of tubers. These results not only help us to better understand the role of stony soils in improving plant growth but also provide a reference for increasing tuber yield through the use of microbial inocula.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Bacteria / Bioinformatics / Biosynthesis / Chemical effects / Crop yield / Gene expression / Microbiota / Microorganisms / Organic matter / Photosynthesis / Physicochemical processes / Physicochemical properties / Plant growth / Plant growth substances / Plant hormones / Rhizosphere / Roots / Soil / Soil improvement / Soil investigations / Soil microorganisms / Soil properties / Soil surfaces / Soils / Stony soils / Tetrastigma / Transcriptomes / Tubers