Nutrient Availability Does Not Affect Community Assembly in Root-Associated Fungi but Determines Fungal Effects on Plant Growth

mSystems

Run Qi¹  Florian Breider²  Jose G. Maciá-Vicente³  Sebastian Ploch⁴  Marco Thines⁵  Bing Bai⁶ 

[1] Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands;Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany;Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany;Plant-Microbe Interactions, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands;School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;;Wageningen Seed Laboratory, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University &

关键词: Arabidopsis thaliana;    fungi;    grasslands;    growth promotion;    heathlands;    nutrient uptake;   

DOI  :  10.1128/msystems.00304-22

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT Nonmycorrhizal root-colonizing fungi are key determinants of plant growth, driving processes ranging from pathogenesis to stress alleviation. Evidence suggests that they might also facilitate host access to soil nutrients in a mycorrhiza-like manner, but the extent of their direct contribution to plant nutrition is unknown. To study how widespread such capacity is across root-colonizing fungi, we surveyed soils in nutrient-limiting habitats using plant baits to look for fungal community changes in response to nutrient conditions. We established a fungal culture collection and used Arabidopsis thaliana inoculation bioassays to assess the ability of fungi to facilitate host’s growth in the presence of organic nutrients unavailable to plants. Plant baits captured a representation of fungal communities extant in natural habitats and showed that nutrient limitation has little influence on community assembly. Arabidopsis thaliana inoculated with 31 phylogenetically diverse fungi exhibited a consistent fungus-driven growth promotion when supplied with organic nutrients compared to untreated plants. However, direct phosphorus measurement and RNA-seq data did not support enhanced nutrient uptake but rather that growth effects may result from changes in the plant’s immune response to colonization. The widespread and consistent host responses to fungal colonization suggest that distinct, locally adapted nonmycorrhizal fungi affect plant performance across habitats. IMPORTANCE Recent studies have shown that root-associated fungi that do not engage in classical mycorrhizal associations can facilitate the hosts’ access to nutrients in a mycorrhiza-like manner. However, the generality of this capacity remains to be tested. Root-associated fungi are frequently deemed major determinants of plant diversity and performance, but in the vast majority of cases their ecological roles in nature remain unknown. Assessing how these plant symbionts affect plant productivity, diversity, and fitness is important to understanding how plant communities function. Recent years have seen important advances in the understanding of the main drivers of the diversity and structure of plant microbiomes, but a major challenge is still linking community properties with function. This study contributes to the understanding of the cryptic function of root-associated fungi by testing their ability to participate in a specific process: nutrient acquisition by plants.

【 授权许可】

Unknown