Dataset Information

Drought and host selection influence bacterial community dynamics in the grass root microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Root endophytes have been shown to have important roles in determining host fitness under periods of drought stress, and yet the effect of drought on the broader root endosphere bacterial community remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, we present phylogenetic profiles of bacterial communities associated with drought-treated root and rhizosphere tissues of 18 species of plants with varying degrees of drought tolerance belonging to the Poaceae family, including important crop plants. Through 16S rRNA gene profiling across two distinct watering regimes and two developmental time points, we demonstrate that there is a strong correlation between host phylogenetic distance and the microbiome dissimilarity within root tissues, and that drought weakens this correlation by inducing conserved shifts in bacterial community composition. We identify a significant enrichment in a wide variety of Actinobacteria during drought within the roots of all hosts, and demonstrate that this enrichment is higher within the root than it is in the surrounding environments. Furthermore, we show that this observed enrichment is the result of an absolute increase in Actinobacterial abundance and that previously hypothesized mechanisms for observed enrichments in Actinobacteria in drought-treated soils are unlikely to fully account for the phenomena observed here within the plant root.

SUBMITTER: Naylor D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5702725 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Drought and host selection influence bacterial community dynamics in the grass root microbiome.

Naylor Dan D DeGraaf Stephanie S Purdom Elizabeth E Coleman-Derr Devin D

The ISME journal 20170728 12

Root endophytes have been shown to have important roles in determining host fitness under periods of drought stress, and yet the effect of drought on the broader root endosphere bacterial community remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, we present phylogenetic profiles of bacterial communities associated with drought-treated root and rhizosphere tissues of 18 species of plants with varying degrees of drought tolerance belonging to the Poaceae family, including important crop plants. Thr ...[more]

PMID: 28753209

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Project description:Insects share an intimate relationship with their gut microflora and this symbiotic association has developed into an essential evolutionary outcome intended for their survival through extreme environmental conditions. While it has been clearly established that insects, with very few exceptions, associate with several microbes during their life cycle, information regarding several aspects of these associations is yet to be fully unraveled. Acquisition of bacteria by insects marks the onset of microbial symbiosis, which is followed by the adaptation of these bacterial species to the gut environment for prolonged sustenance and successful transmission across generations. Although several insect-microbiome associations have been reported and each with their distinctive features, diversifications and specializations, it is still unclear as to what led to these diversifications. Recent studies have indicated the involvement of various evolutionary processes operating within an insect body that govern the transition of a free-living microbe to an obligate or facultative symbiont and eventually leading to the establishment and diversification of these symbiotic relationships. Data from various studies, summarized in this review, indicate that the symbiotic partners, i.e., the bacteria and the insect undergo several genetic, biochemical and physiological changes that have profound influence on their life cycle and biology. An interesting outcome of the insect-microbe interaction is the compliance of the microbial partner to its eventual genome reduction. Endosymbionts possess a smaller genome as compared to their free-living forms, and thus raising the question what is leading to reductive evolution in the microbial partner. This review attempts to highlight the fate of microbes within an insect body and its implications for both the bacteria and its insect host. While discussion on each specific association would be too voluminous and outside the scope of this review, we present an overview of some recent studies that contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary trajectory and dynamics of the insect-microbe association and speculate that, in the future, a better understanding of the nature of this interaction could pave the path to a sustainable and environmentally safe way for controlling economically important pests of crop plants.

Project description:BackgroundSeparating acidification and methanogenic steps in anaerobic digestion processes can help to optimize the process and contribute to producing valuable sub-products such as methane, hydrogen and organic acids. However, the full potential of this technology has not been fully explored yet. To assess the underlying fermentation process in more detail, a combination of high-throughput sequencing and proteomics on the acidification step of plant material (grass) at both mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures (37 and 55 °C, respectively) was applied for the first time.ResultsHigh-strength liquor from acidified grass biomass exhibited a low biodiversity, which differed greatly depending on temperature. It was dominated by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes at 37 °C, and by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria at 55 °C. At the methane stage, Methanosaeta, Methanomicrobium and Methanosarcina proved to be highly sensitive to environmental changes as their abundance in the seed sludges dropped dramatically after transferring the seed sludges from the respective reactors into the experimental setup. Further, an increase in Actinobacteria coincided with reduced biogas production at the end of the experiment. Over 1700 proteins were quantified from the first cycle of acidification samples using label-free quantitative proteome analysis and searching protein databases. The most abundant proteins included an almost complete set of glycolytic enzymes indicating that the microbial population is basically engaged in the degradation and catabolism of sugars. Differences in protein abundances clearly separated samples into two clusters corresponding to culture temperature. More differentially expressed proteins were found under mesophilic (120) than thermophilic (5) conditions.ConclusionOur results are the first multi-omics characterisation of a two-stage biogas production system with separated acidification and suggest that screening approaches targeting specific taxa such as Methanosaeta, Methanomicrobium and Methanosarcina could be useful diagnostic tools as indicators of environmental changes such as temperature or oxidative stress or, as in the case of Actinobacteria, they could be used as a proxy of the gas production potential of anaerobic digesters. Metaproteome analyses only detected significant expression differences in mesophilic samples, whereas thermophilic samples showed more stable protein composition with an abundance of chaperones suggesting a role in protein stability under thermal stress.

Dataset Information

Drought and host selection influence bacterial community dynamics in the grass root microbiome.

Publications

Drought and host selection influence bacterial community dynamics in the grass root microbiome.

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