The Immense Functional Attributes of Maize Rhizosphere Microbiome: A Shotgun Sequencing Approach

Abstract

The northwest (NW) province of South Africa is a semi-arid area, often disturbed by soil extremes such as drought and intense temperature. However, many functions possessed by the rhizosphere microbiome are still required, especially those inhabiting arid and semi-arid soils. This study involves a metagenomic comparison of the major metabolic attributes of two maize rhizosphere soils and their surrounding soils. Here, we hypothesized that there is a considerable difference between the functional diversity of maize rhizosphere and bulk soils and that the rhizosphere soil has distinct functional traits of agricultural importance. A high-throughput sequencing approach was used to assess the metabolic profile of rhizosphere soil microbiota of maize collected from the Gauteng and NW provinces of South Africa. The relative abundance of 13 functional hit categories was significantly different between the sampling sites. The diversity indices showed a considerable difference between the rhizosphere and surrounding soils. The difference in the chemical properties of the sampling sites was responsible for the variation in the microbial functional composition. Nevertheless, the presence of a high relative abundance of functional categories with unknown functions in SEED subsystem-2 coupled with the large number of functional hits conferring a response to soil stressors viz. oxidative stress, heat shock, osmotic stress, and cold shock noticed in the rhizosphere samples may indicate the presence of novel genes at the sampling sites. Exploring the plant growth-promoting traits of microorganisms present at these sites could eliminate the constraint posed by soil stressors on sustainable agriculture.

Metagenomic insights into the bacterial community structure and functional potentials in the rhizosphere soil of maize plants

“…Although the maize root microbiome has been explored by various studies (Akinola et al 2021;Aliche et al 2021;Fadiji et al 2021), the impact of plants on microbes is still understudied. It is therefore imperative to ascertain microbes that are effective in the rhizosphere and their associated functional genes Praeg et al 2019).…”

Fungi That Promote Plant Growth in the Rhizosphere Boost Crop Growth

“…The interactive association between AMF and Bradyrhizobium japanicum has been revealed to help stimulate proper growth in most tomato plants [ 29 ]. AMF and PGPF have also been reported to improve the growth of cucumbers and likewise inhibit damping off [ 30 ]. PGPF ( T. viride and P. chrysogenum ) have been reported for their efficacy on oranges to prevent post-harvest diseases [ 10 ].…”

Synergistic relationship of endophyte-nanomaterials to alleviate abiotic stress in plants

“…In this regard, the use of endophytic microbes remains one of the more reliable methods to mitigate the effects of abiotic stresses. Microbes are ubiquitous in diverse natural environments and exhibit diverse metabolic responses to manage soil stressors (Meena et al, 2017;Akinola and Babalola, 2020;Akinola et al, 2021b). Due to the proximity between plants and microbes in the soil, the plant microbiome induces local and systemic mechanisms in crop plants to cope with continuous changes to the environment.…”