Trophic interactions as determinants of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community with cascading plant-promoting consequences

Microbiome

Qinsong Xu¹  Kaijie Hu¹  Xiaoyun Chen²  Manqiang Liu²  Huixin Li²  Michael Bonkowski³  Stefan Geisen⁴  Ziyun Chen⁵  Yuji Jiang⁵  Lu Luan⁵  Bo Sun⁵ 

[1] College of Life Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023, Nanjing, China;College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, China;Institute of Zoology, Terrestrial Ecology, University of Cologne and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Cologne, Germany;Laboratory of Nematology, Wageningen University, 6700 ES, Wageningen, Netherlands;State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008, Nanjing, China;

关键词: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi;    Protists;    Nematodes;    AMF colonization;    Phosphorus transporter genes;    Plant productivity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-020-00918-6

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe soil mycobiome is composed of a complex and diverse fungal community, which includes functionally diverse species ranging from plant pathogens to mutualists. Among the latter are arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) that provide phosphorous (P) to plants. While plant hosts and abiotic parameters are known to structure AMF communities, it remains largely unknown how higher trophic level organisms, including protists and nematodes, affect AMF abundance and community composition.ResultsHere, we explored the connections between AMF, fungivorous protists and nematodes that could partly reflect trophic interactions, and linked those to rhizosphere P dynamics and plant performance in a long-term manure application setting. Our results revealed that manure addition increased AMF biomass and the density of fungivorous nematodes, and tailored the community structures of AMF, fungivorous protists, and nematodes. We detected a higher abundance of AMF digested by the dominant fungivorous nematodes Aphelenchoides and Aphelenchus in high manure treatments compared to no manure and low manure treatments. Structural equation modeling combined with network analysis suggested that predation by fungivorous protists and nematodes stimulated AMF biomass and modified the AMF community composition. The mycorrhizal-fungivore interactions catalyzed AMF colonization and expression levels of the P transporter gene ZMPht1;6 in maize roots, which resulted in enhanced plant productivity.ConclusionsOur study highlights the importance of predation as a key element in shaping the composition and enhancing the biomass of AMF, leading to increased plant performance. As such, we clarify novel biological mechanism of the complex interactions between AMF, fungivorous protists, and nematodes in driving P absorption and plant performance.3Rct2UgWKJzaMmE1q1nvDRVideo Abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY