Soil microorganisms play an important role in the ecosystem, and have a certain relationship with the continuous cropping obstacles, which are common with sweet potato. However, there are few reports on the effects of continuous cropping of sweet potato on the microbial community structure in the rhizospheric soil. Here, we investigated the effects of continuous cropping of sweet potato on the fungal community structure in rhizospheric soil, in order to provide theoretical basis for prevention and control of continuous cropping obstacles. This study used X18 and Y138 varieties as experimental materials. Soil samples were collected during the early period of planting and harvest in two consecutive years, and fungi were analyzed using Illumina Miseq. Results showed that the fungi diversity and richness in rhizospheric soil of X18 and Y138 were significantly increased after continuous cropping; the most dominant fungi phylum was Ascomycota, which decreased significantly after continuous cropping. In addition, the content of beneficial fungi such as Chaetomium was reduced, while that of harmful fungi such as Verticillium, Fusarium, and Colletotrichum were increased. The composition of X18 and Y138 fungal community in the same sampling period after continuous cropping was similar, although that of the same sweet potato variety significantly differed with the sampling period. Overall, our results indicate that continuous cropping alters the fungal community structure of the sweet potato rhizospheric soil, such that the content of beneficial fungi decrease, while that of harmful fungi increase, thereby increasing soil-borne diseases and reducing the yield and quality of sweet potato. Furthermore, these effects are different for different sweet potato varieties. Thus, during actual production, attention should be paid to maintain the stability of sweet potato rhizospheric soil micro-ecology through rotation or application of microbial fertilizers and soil amendments to alleviate continuous cropping obstacles.
Transgenic plant-derived vaccines comprise a new type of bioreactor that combines plant genetic engineering technology with an organism's immunological response. This combination can be considered as a bioreactor that is produced by introducing foreign genes into plants that elicit special immunogenicity when introduced into animals or human beings. In comparison with traditional vaccines, plant vaccines have some significant advantages, such as low cost, greater safety, and greater effectiveness. In a number of recent studies, antigen-specific proteins have been successfully expressed in various plant tissues and have even been tested in animals and human beings. Therefore, edible vaccines of transgenic plants have a bright future. This review begins with a discussion of the immune mechanism and expression systems for transgenic plant vaccines. Then, current advances in different transgenic plant vaccines will be analyzed, including vaccines against pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and eukaryotic parasites. In view of the low expression levels for antigens in plants, high-level expression strategies of foreign protein in transgenic plants are recommended. Finally, the existing safety problems in transgenic plant vaccines were put forward will be discussed along with a number of appropriate solutions that will hopefully lead to future clinical application of edible plant vaccines.
Gene flow may occur between genetically modified (GM) crops and wild relatives and the fate of escaped transgenes depends on the performance of hybrids and the fitness of the transgene. Hybrids were formed by hand-crossing a GM strain of glyphosate-tolerant soybean and its non-GM counterpart with wild soybean and were assessed in this study. The hundred-seed weight of hybrids was significantly higher than that of wild soybean. However, no overall difference in plant growth was found between GM and non-GM hybrids. The results suggest that the herbicide-resistant transgene may not pose fitness costs and could persist in nature.
Background
Continuous cropping obstacles from sweet potatoes are widespread, which seriously reduce the yield and quality, causing certain economic losses. Bacteria of rhizospheric soil are the richest and are associated with obstacles to continuous cropping. However, few studies have examined how continuous sweet potato cropping affects the rhizospheric soil bacterial community structure.
Results
In the study, the Illumina MiSeq method was used to explore the variations in
rhizospheric soil bacterial community structure of different sweet potato varieties after continuous cropping, as well as the correlation between soil characteristics and the bacterial community. The results showed that (1) the dominant bacterial phyla in rhizospheric soils from both Xushu 18 and Yizi 138 were Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The most dominant genus was Subgroup 6_norank. The relative abundance of rhizospheric soil bacteria varied significantly between the two sweet potato varieties. (2) The richness and diversity indexes of bacteria were higher in Xushu 18 rhizospheric soil than in Yizi 138 soil after continuous cropping. Moreover, beneficial Lysobacter and Bacillus were more prevalent in Xushu 18, while Yizi 138 contained more harmful Gemmatimonadetes. (3) Soil pH decreased after continuous cropping, and redundancy analysis indicated that soil pH was significantly correlated with the bacterial community. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient analysis demonstrated that pH was positively associated with Planctomycetes and Acidobacteria, but negatively associated with Actinobacteria and Firmicutes.
Conclusions
After continuous cropping, the bacterial community structure and physicochemical properties of sweet potato rhizospheric soil were changed, and the changes from different sweet potato varieties were different. The contents of Lysobacter and Bacillus were higher in the sweet potato variety resistant to continuous cropping. It provides a basis for developing new microbial fertilizers for sweet potatoes to alleviate the continuous cropping obstacle.
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