Microbiota and Host Nutrition across Plant and Animal Kingdoms

Abstract

Plants and animals each have evolved specialized organs dedicated to nutrient acquisition, and these harbor specific bacterial communities that extend the host's metabolic repertoire. Similar forces driving microbial community establishment in the gut and plant roots include diet/soil-type, host genotype, and immune system as well as microbe-microbe interactions. Here we show that there is no overlap of abundant bacterial taxa between the microbiotas of the mammalian gut and plant roots, whereas taxa overlap does exist between fish gut and plant root communities. A comparison of root and gut microbiota composition in multiple host species belonging to the same evolutionary lineage reveals host phylogenetic signals in both eukaryotic kingdoms. The reasons underlying striking differences in microbiota composition in independently evolved, yet functionally related, organs in plants and animals remain unclear but might include differences in start inoculum and niche-specific factors such as oxygen levels, temperature, pH, and organic carbon availability.

The Nodule Microbiome: N2-Fixing Rhizobia Do Not Live Alone

“…Moreover, although the gut microbiome serves as an important model for phytomicrobiome research, few overlaps in microbial composition exist between animal and plant microbiota (Hacquard et al 2015). However, many of the functions, which the microbes perform in the service of the host, are conserved (Berendsen et al 2012).…”

Root nodule symbiosis in Lotus japonicus drives the establishment of distinctive rhizosphere, root, and nodule bacterial communities

“…The bacterial root microbiota is taxonomically structured and characterized by the co-occurrence of three main phyla comprising Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria across different soil types and divergent plant hosts (6,7). This root-associated bacterial assemblage is mostly derived from the highly diverse bacterial soil biome surrounding roots and is established rapidly within a few days after seed germination (6,8).…”

“…The bacterial root microbiota is taxonomically structured and characterized by the co-occurrence of three main phyla comprising Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria across different soil types and divergent plant hosts (6,7). This root-associated bacterial assemblage is mostly derived from the highly diverse bacterial soil biome surrounding roots and is established rapidly within a few days after seed germination (6,8). Soil type is the main driver of diversification of the bacterial root microbiota at low taxonomic ranks (i.e., at genus and species level), with less variation detectable at the higher phylum rank (8)(9)(10)(11).…”

Borderline Products between Bio-fertilizers/ Bio-effectors and Plant Protectants: The Role of Microbial Consortia

“…Most commonly, if not generally, they occur as members of a more complex microbiota [13], just as it happens in the human intestine [14], the stomach of ruminants [15], a biogas digestor [16], grape must and beer fermentation [17][18][19], cheese ripening [20], a legume root nodule [21], a termite nest [22][23][24] or in bio-mineralization mediated by anaerobic methane-consuming cell consortia [25]. Despite their intrinsic diversity, MC tends to respond to the environmental stressors as a unique organism, because they can have more chances than any microbial strain living as a single population to adapt one or more of their components to the stressor and can take advantage of internal beneficial interactions among members.…”