Variation in Soil Microbial Community Structure Associated with Different Legume Species Is Greater than that Associated with Different Grass Species

Abstract

Plants are the essential factors shaping soil microbial community (SMC) structure. When most studies focus on the difference in the SMC structure associated different plant species, the variation in the SMC structure associated with phylogenetically close species is less investigated. Legume (Fabaceae) and grass (Poaceae) are functionally important plant groups; however, their influences on the SMC structure are seldom compared, and the variation in the SMC structure among legume or grass species is largely unknown. In this study, we grew three legume species vs. three grass species in mesocosms, and monitored the soil chemical property, quantified the abundance of bacteria and fungi. The SMC structure was also characterized using PCR-DGGE and Miseq sequencing. Results showed that legume and grass differentially affected soil pH, dissolved organic C, total N content, and available P content, and that legume enriched fungi more greatly than grass. Both DGGE profiling and Miseq-sequencing indicated that the bacterial diversity associated with legume was higher than that associated with grass. When legume increased the abundance of Verrucomicrobia, grass decreased it, and furthermore, linear discriminant analysis identified some group-specific microbial taxa as potential biomarkers of legume or grass. These data suggest that legume and grass differentially select for the SMC. More importantly, clustering analysis based on both DGGE profiling and Miseq-sequencing demonstrated that the variation in the SMC structure associated with three legume species was greater than that associated with three grass species.

Contrasting P acquisition strategies of the bacterial communities associated with legume and grass in subtropical orchard soil

“…Considering the lower bacterial abundance involved in OA biosynthesis and transport in stylo soil, it appears that plant hosts and their associated bacteria are likely complementary in producing OAs to solubilize sparingly soluble Pi. Alternatively, it is likely that fungi take over the bacterial function of P solubilization in stylo soil because fungi are more abundant in legume soil than in grass soil (Turner et al ., ; Zhou et al ., ). P solubilization by fungi is well recognized (Whitelaw, ; Mondala et al ., ).…”

“…Legumes and grass are distinct functional groups in diverse ecosystems. Our data support the different bacterial community composition associated with stylo (legume) and bahiagrass (grass), consistent with previous reports (Turner et al ., ; Zhou et al ., ). This difference further leads to divergent functions in P cycling in stylo soil and bahiagrass soil.…”

“…In the studies described above, however, soil microorganisms are neglected despite their pivotal role in P cycling. Plants are the key determinant of the structure and function of the soil microbial community (Peiffer et al, 2013;Turner et al, 2013;Zhou et al, 2017a), presumably via differential root exudates and nutrient strategy (Zhou et al, 2017b). Previous reports demonstrate that legumes and grass assemble microbial communities with different compositions and functions (Turner et al, 2013;Zhou et al, 2017c).…”

Rhizoplane Bacteria and Plant Species Co-determine Phosphorus-Mediated Microbial Legacy Effect

“…Remarkable difference in rhizosphere microbiome was observed between clover and maize (Figure 3), which confirms previous studies on microbial communities in the rhizosphere of different crops. Legume and grass differentially select microbial communities (Zhou et al, 2017). Long-term (12 years) cover cropping with four leguminous species significantly enhanced soil microbes that were related with N and C metabolism (Dinesh et al, 2006).…”

Grass and maize vegetation systems restore saline‐sodic soils in the Songnen Plain of northeast China

“…The bacterial 16S rRNA gene is approximately 1,500 bp in length with nine highly conserved regions. The V3 and V4 regions are routinely sequenced using Illumina technology for determining the microbial community composition, which has been proved to be a reliable approach (Ding et al, ; Pérez‐Jaramillo et al, ; Wang et al, ; Zhou, Zhu, Fu, & Yao, ). Our sequencing data indicated that the dominant groups across all samples were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Planctomycetes (Figure ).…”