Evidence for microbiome-dependent chilling tolerance in sorghum

Abstract

Early season chilling stress is a major constraint on sorghum production in temperate climates. Chilling-tolerant sorghum is an active area of development, but the potential for early season microbial-enhanced chilling tolerance in sorghum has not yet been explored. In this study, we characterized traits of field-grown sorghum accessions in response to chilling and non-chilling temperatures, then we characterized the effects of chilling temperatures and microbial inoculation on sorghum accession traits in a growth chamber experiment. By comparing sorghum trait responses under chilling stress with and without soil microbial inoculation, we were able to detect a potential microbe-dependent sorghum response to chilling stress. Four sorghum genotypes show a negative response to chilling stress with vs. without microbial inoculation, while five sorghum accessions show increased shoot biomass or/ and leaf area under chilling stress when inoculated with a soil microbiome.

Endophytic bacterial communities of alpine Rosaceae plants are affected by the plant tissue, collection site and host plant and culturable psychrotolerant isolates contribute to plant freezing stress tolerance

“…sorghum, taxus, lettuce and maize) and cold-adapted (e.g. Valerianella locusta ) plants (Yu et al ., 2019; Erlandson et al ., 2021; Persyn et al ., 2022; Garcia Mendez et al ., 2023). Moreover, bacterial isolates belonging to Pseudomonadaceae, Oxalobacteraceae and Rhizobiaceae promoted plant growth under cold stress and/or reduced cold stress-related damage in several plants (Bertrand et al ., 2007; Tiryaki et al ., 2019; Acuña-Rodríguez et al ., 2020; Beirinckx et al ., 2020; D’Amours et al ., 2022; Garcia Mendez et al ., 2023).…”

“…However, these approaches have several limitations in terms of costs, efficacy, feasibility and environmental impacts (Albrecht et al ., 2004). The use or manipulation of plant-associated microbial communities was proposed as a promising sustainable approach to alleviate cold stress in crops (Beirinckx et al ., 2020; Erlandson et al ., 2021; Persyn et al ., 2022), but no information is available on the possible mitigation of freezing stress in Rosaceae plants. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between plant tissue, plant host and collection site and the taxonomic structure of endophytic bacterial communities associated with alpine Rosaceae plants and to identify core taxa and hub taxa using a culture-independent approach.…”