Transitions between saline and fresh waters have been shown to be infrequent for microorganisms. Based on host-specific interactions, the presence of specific clades among hosts suggests the existence of freshwater-specific viral clades. Yet, little is known about the composition and diversity of the temperate freshwater viral communities, and even if freshwater lakes and marine waters harbor distinct clades for particular viral sub-families, this distinction remains to be demonstrated on a community scale.To help identify the characteristics and potential specificities of freshwater viral communities, such communities from two lakes differing by their ecological parameters were studied through metagenomics. Both the cluster richness and the species richness of the Lake Bourget virome were significantly higher that those of the Lake Pavin, highlighting a trend similar to the one observed for microorganisms (i.e. the specie richness observed in mesotrophic lakes is greater than the one observed in oligotrophic lakes). Using 29 previously published viromes, the cluster richness was shown to vary between different environment types and appeared significantly higher in marine ecosystems than in other biomes. Furthermore, significant genetic similarity between viral communities of related environments was highlighted as freshwater, marine and hypersaline environments were separated from each other despite the vast geographical distances between sample locations within each of these biomes. An automated phylogeny procedure was then applied to marker genes of the major families of single-stranded (Microviridae, Circoviridae, Nanoviridae) and double-stranded (Caudovirales) DNA viruses. These phylogenetic analyses all spotlighted a very broad diversity and previously unknown clades undetectable by PCR analysis, clades that gathered sequences from the two lakes. Thus, the two freshwater viromes appear closely related, despite the significant ecological differences between the two lakes. Furthermore, freshwater viral communities appear genetically distinct from other aquatic ecosystems, demonstrating the specificity of freshwater viruses at a community scale for the first time.

Taking into account the strong iron competition in the rhizosphere and the high affinity of pyoverdines for Fe(III), these molecules are expected to interfere with the iron nutrition of plants, as they do with rhizospheric microbes. The impact of Fe-pyoverdine on iron content of Arabidopsis thaliana was compared with that of Fe-EDTA. Iron chelated to pyoverdine was incorporated in a more efficient way than when chelated to EDTA, leading to increased plant growth of the wild type. A transgenic line of A. thaliana overexpressing ferritin showed a higher iron content than the wild type when supplemented with Fe-EDTA but a lower iron content when supplemented with Fe-pyoverdine despite its increased reductase activity, suggesting that this activity was not involved in the iron uptake from pyoverdine. A mutant knock-out iron transporter IRT1 showed lower iron and chlorophyll contents when supplemented with Fe-EDTA than the wild type but not when supplemented with Fe-pyoverdine, indicating that, in contrast to iron from EDTA, iron from pyoverdine was not incorporated through the IRT1 transporter. Altogether these data suggest that iron from Fe-pyoverdine was not incorporated in planta through the strategy I, which is based on reductase activity and IRT1 transporter. This is supported by the presence of pyoverdine in planta as shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and by tracing 15N of 15N-pyoverdine.

Remarkable morphological diversity of virus-like particles was observed by transmission electron microscopy in a hypersaline water sample from Lake Retba, Senegal. The majority of particles morphologically resembled hyperthermophilic archaeal DNA viruses isolated from extreme geothermal environments. Some hypersaline viral morphotypes have not been previously observed in nature, and less than 1% of observed particles had a head-and-tail morphology, which is typical for bacterial DNA viruses. Culture-independent analysis of the microbial diversity in the sample suggested the dominance of extremely halophilic archaea. Few of the 16S sequences corresponded to known archeal genera (Haloquadratum, Halorubrum and Natronomonas), whereas the majority represented novel archaeal clades. Three sequences corresponded to a new basal lineage of the haloarchaea. Bacteria belonged to four major phyla, consistent with the known diversity in saline environments. Metagenomic sequencing of DNA from the purified virus-like particles revealed very few similarities to the NCBI non-redundant database at either the nucleotide or amino acid level. Some of the identifiable virus sequences were most similar to previously described haloarchaeal viruses, but no sequence similarities were found to archaeal viruses from extreme geothermal environments. A large proportion of the sequences had similarity to previously sequenced viral metagenomes from solar salterns.

Background and aims: Positive below-ground interactions (facilitation) should be more pronounced when resources limit crop growth, according to the stress-gradient hypothesis. Our aim was to test this hypothesis for intercropped durum wheat and faba bean along a P-fertilizer gradient. Methods: A field experiment was conducted in a long-term P-fertilizer trial with three rates of P-fertilization (No, Low and High P). Microbial biomass was assessed by chloroform fumigation-extraction. Quantitative PCR was applied to evaluate the abundance of relevant microbial groups. Results: Phosphorus availability and microbial biomass systematically increased in the rhizosphere compared to bulk soil. P-fertilization resulted in higher abundance of targeted bacterial phyla, whole bacterial and fungal communities, and depressed mycorrhizal colonization of durum wheat, but not faba bean. Microbial biomass carbon significantly increased in the rhizosphere only in P-fertilized treatments, pointing to P limitation of microbial communities. Intercropping yielded a significant effect on rhizosphere microbial properties only at High P. Microbial biomass P increased in the rhizosphere of intercropped faba bean only at No P level, and was thus the sole finding supporting the stress-gradient hypothesis. Conclusions: P-fertilization was the main driver of microbial communities in this field trial, and P-fertilizer application modulated the species-specific effect in the intercrop. Plant performance did not validate the stress-gradient hypothesis as positive plant-plant interactions occurred regardless of the level of P-fertilization. (Résumé d'auteur

Our knowledge of the rhizosphere bacterial communities in deep soils and the role of Eucalyptus and Acacia on the structure of these communities remains very limited. In this study, we targeted the bacterial community along a depth profile (0 to 800 cm) and compared community structure in monospecific or mixed plantations of Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus grandis. We applied quantitative PCR (qPCR) and sequence the V6 region of the 16S rRNA gene to characterize composition of bacterial communities. We identified a decrease in bacterial abundance with soil depth, and differences in community patterns between monospecific and mixed cultivations. Sequence analysis indicated a prevalent effect of soil depth on bacterial communities in the mixed plant cultivation system, and a remarkable differentiation of bacterial communities in areas solely cultivated with Eucalyptus. The groups most influenced by soil depth were Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria (more frequent in samples between 0 and 300 cm). The predominant bacterial groups differentially displayed in the monospecific stands of Eucalyptus were Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Our results suggest that the addition of an N2-fixing tree in a monospecific cultivation system modulates bacterial community composition even at a great depth. We conclude that co-cultivation systems may represent a key strategy to improve soil resources and to establish more sustainable cultivation of Eucalyptus in Brazil.

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Virus-prokaryote interactions were investigated in four natural sites in Senegal (West Africa) covering a salinity gradient ranging from brackish (10‰) to near salt saturation (360‰). Both the viral and the prokaryote communities exhibited remarkable differences in their physiological, ecological and morphological traits along the gradient. Above 240‰ salinity, viral and prokaryotic abundance increased considerably with the emergence of (1) highly active square haloarchaea and of (2) viral particles with pleiomorphic morphologies (predominantly spindle, spherical and linear shaped). Viral life strategies also showed some salinity-driven dependence, switching from a prevalence of lytic to lysogenic modes of infection at the highest salinities. Interestingly, the fraction of lysogenized cells was positively correlated with the proportion of square cells. Overall, the extraordinary abundance of viruses in hypersaline systems (up to 6.8 × 10(8) virus-like particles per milliliter) appears to be partly explained by their high stability and specific ability to persist and proliferate in these apparently restrictive habitats.

While the number of studies dealing with fine root dynamics in deep soils layers (depth > 1 m) has increased sharply recently, the phenology, the morphology, the anatomy and the role of deep fine roots are still poorly known in forest ecosystems. This review summarizes the current knowledge on fine root production, mortality and longevity in deep soil layers, mycorrhizal association with deep roots, and the role of deep fine roots on carbon, water and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Plant species are known to be more deeply rooted in tropical ecosystems than in temperate and boreal ecosystems, but deep-rooted species are common in a wide range of climates. Deep fine roots are highly plastic in response to changes in environmental conditions and soil resources. Recent studies show that functional traits can be different for deep and shallow roots, with a possible functional specialization of deep fine roots to take up nutrients. With higher vessel diameter and larger tracheid, the anatomy of deep fine roots is also oriented toward water acquisition and transport by increasing the hydraulic conductivity. Deep fine roots can have a great impact on the biogeochemical cycles in many forests (in particular in tropical areas where highly weathered soils are commonly very deep), making it possible to take up water and nutrients over dry periods and contributing to store carbon in the soil. The biogeochemical models in forest ecosystems need to consider the specificity of deep root functioning to better predict carbon, water and nutrient cycling as well as net ecosystem productivity.