High-throughput sequencing analysis of the rhizosphere arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community composition associated with Ferula sinkiangensis

Abstract

Background Ferula sinkiangensis is an increasingly endangered medicinal plant. Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) are symbiotic microorganisms that live in the soil wherein they enhance nutrient uptake, stress resistance, and pathogen defense in host plants. While such AMF have the potential to contribute to the cultivation of Ferula sinkiangensis, the composition of AMF communities associated with Ferula sinkiangensis and the relationship between these fungi and other pertinent abiotic factors still remains to be clarified. Results Herein, we collected rhizosphere and surrounding soil samples at a range of depths (0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm) and a range of slope positions (bottom, middle, top). These samples were then subjected to analyses of soil physicochemical properties and high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). We determined that Glomus and Diversispora species were highly enriched in all samples. We further found that AMF diversity and richness varied significantly as a function of slope position, with this variation primarily being tied to differences in relative Glomus and Diversispora abundance. In contrast, no significant relationship was observed between soil depth and overall AMF composition, although some AMF species were found to be sensitive to soil depth. Many factors significantly affected AMF community composition, including organic matter content, total nitrogen, total potassium, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available potassium, total dissolvable salt levels, pH, soil water content, and slope position. We further determined that Shannon diversity index values in these communities were positively correlated with total phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen levels, and pH values (P < 0.05), whereas total phosphorus, total dissolvable salt levels, and pH were positively correlated with Chao1 values (P < 0.05). Conclusion In summary, our data revealed that Glomus and Diversispora are key AMF genera found within Ferula sinkiangensis rhizosphere soil. These fungi are closely associated with specific environmental and soil physicochemical properties, and these soil sample properties also differed significantly as a function of slope position (P < 0.05). Together, our results provide new insights regarding the relationship between AMF species and Ferula sinkiangensis, offering a theoretical basis for further studies of their development.

High-Throughput Sequencing Analysis of the Composition and Diversity of the Bacterial Community in Cinnamomum camphora Soil

“…The slope position is an important topographic factor, and there is a significant difference in species diversity with the change in slope position [21]. Our results found that the alpha diversity of the downslope rhizosphere and bulk soil samples is higher than that of the upslope samples (Figure 2).…”

“…It is reported that the slope position is an important topographic factor that controls the microenvironment heterogeneity by affecting plant temperature, light, physical and chemical properties of the soil, and water level [19,20]. Although slope position is not a direct ecological factor determining the survival of microorganisms, it can affect the distribution of microorganisms by controlling the spatial-temporal distribution of a series of ecological factors and their combinations [21]. Therefore, the soil type and slope position of plants are closely related to the microbial community.…”

Alterations in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Community Along a Chronosequence of Teak (Tectona grandis) Plantations in Tropical Forests of China

“…The Glomus was the most abundant genus reported in forest ecosystems (Chen et al, 2007;Lu et al, 2019;Jing et al, 2020;Ji et al, 2021), reclamation land (Ezeokoli et al, 2020), desert vegetative sites (Vasar et al, 2021), agroecosystems (Wang et al, 2020) and saline ecosystems (Sheng et al, 2019) indicating its wide adaptation to diverse ecosystems. Additionally, studies found that the AMV4.5NF/AMDGR primers favored the amplification of Glomeraceae sequences (Luo et al, 2020), which may also have resulted in the dominance of Glomeraceae and Glomus at the family and genus levels, respectively. Contrary to our results, Sheng et al (2017) reported that Rhizophagus dominated in roots and soils along a chronosequence of blank locust plantations.…”

“…Especially in soil, K was the first factor that contributed to 21.7% of the total variation (Figure 8). Several studies have reported that K availability is an important driver of AM fungal community composition due to the accumulation of K content with stand age grew (Qin et al, 2017;Sheng et al, 2017;Luo et al, 2020). High N input can result in the decline of AM fungal abundance, and low N availability conditions can effectively improve the ability of AM fungi to transport N elements to host plants (Xiao et al, 2019).…”

Illumina MiSeq Sequencing Reveals Correlations among Fruit Ingredients, Environmental Factors, and AMF Communities in Three Lycium Barbarum Producing Regions of China

“…Also, the host plants can have a controlling effect on AMF colonization ( 30 ). So far, most studies have only focused on the sampling sites at different locations to examine the correlation between soil physicochemical factors and AMF communities ( 31 – 33 ). Apart from soil physicochemical properties, soil enzyme activity, soil temperature, soil moisture, and the relative contributions of relevant environmental factors such as altitude, relative air humidity, soil pH, and available phosphorus (P), kalium (K), and magnesium (Mg) can influence the AMF spore production and root colonization ( 32 , 34 – 36 ).…”