Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2021.629169
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Targeting the active rhizosphere microbiome of Trifolium pratense in grassland evidences a stronger-than-expected belowground biodiversity-ecosystem functioning link
Author Wahdan, S.F.M.; Heintz-Buschart, A.; Sansupa, C.; Tanunchai, B.; Wu, Y.-T.; Schädler, M.; Noll, M.; Purahong, W.; Buscot, F.
Source Titel Frontiers in Microbiology
Year 2021
Department BZF; BOOEK; iDiv
Volume 12
Page From art. 629169
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://ndownloader.figstatic.com/collections/5287354/versions/1
Keywords Active microbiome, rhizosphere, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, GCEF, BrdU Active vs Total Rhizosphere Microbiomes
Abstract The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is a central issue in soil and microbial ecology. To date, most belowground BEF studies focus on diversity of microbes analyzed by barcoding on total DNA, which targets both active and inactive microbes. This approach creates a bias as it mixes the part of the microbiome currently steering processes that provide actual ecosystem functions with the part not directly involved. Using experimental extensive grasslands under current and future climate, we used the bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunocapture technique combined with pair-end Illumina sequencing to characterize both total and active microbiomes (including both bacteria and fungi) in the rhizosphere of Trifolium pratense. Rhizosphere function was assessed by measuring the activity of three microbial extracellular enzymes (β-glucosidase, N-acetyl-glucosaminidase and acid phosphatase), which play central roles in the C, N and P acquisition. We showed that the richness of overall and specific functional groups of active microbes in rhizosphere soil significantly correlated with the measured enzymes activity, while total microbial richness did not. Active microbes of the rhizosphere represented 42.8 % and 32.1 % of the total bacterial and fungal taxa, respectively, and were taxonomically and functionally diverse. Nitrogen fixing bacteria were highly active in this system with 71% of the total operational taxonomic units (OTUs) assigned to this group detected as active. We found the total and active microbiomes to display different responses to variations in soil physicochemical factors in the grassland, but with some degree of resistance to a manipulation mimicking future climate. Our findings provide critical insights into the role of active microbes in defining soil ecosystem functions in a grassland ecosystems. We demonstrate that the relationship between biodiversity-ecosystem functioning in soil may be stronger than previously thought.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=23378
Wahdan, S.F.M., Heintz-Buschart, A., Sansupa, C., Tanunchai, B., Wu, Y.-T., Schädler, M., Noll, M., Purahong, W., Buscot, F. (2021):
Targeting the active rhizosphere microbiome of Trifolium pratense in grassland evidences a stronger-than-expected belowground biodiversity-ecosystem functioning link
Front. Microbiol. 12 , art. 629169 10.3389/fmicb.2021.629169