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Title: Dynamic root exudate chemistry and microbial substrate preferences drive patterns in rhizosphere microbial community assembly

Journal Article · · Nature Microbiology
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]; ORCiD logo [3];  [8];  [2];  [9]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [9]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division. Earth and Environmental Sciences
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division. Joint BioEnergy Inst. Biosystems Engineering Division
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig (Germany). Dept. of Environmental Microbiology
  6. AgResearch Ltd, Christchurch (New Zealand). Lincoln Science Centre
  7. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division. Joint BioEnergy Inst. Biosystems Engineering Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology; Claude Bernard Univ. Lyon 1, Villeurbanne (France). Microbiology, Adaptation and Pathogenesis
  9. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Like all higher organisms, plants have evolved in the context of a microbial world, shaping both their evolution and their contemporary ecology. Interactions between plant roots and soil microorganisms are critical for plant fitness in natural environments. Given this co-evolution and the pivotal importance of plant-microbial interactions, it has been hypothesized, and a growing body of literature suggests, that plants may regulate the composition of their rhizosphere to promote the growth of microorganisms that improve plant fitness in a given ecosystem. Here, using a combination of comparative genomics and exometabolomics, we show that pre-programmed developmental processes in plants (Avena barbata) result in consistent patterns in the chemical composition of root exudates. This chemical succession in the rhizosphere interacts with microbial metabolite substrate preferences that are predictable from genome sequences. Specifically, we observed a preference by rhizosphere bacteria for consumption of aromatic organic acids exuded by plants (nicotinic, shikimic, salicylic, cinnamic and indole-3-acetic). The combination of these plant exudation traits and microbial substrate uptake traits interact to yield the patterns of microbial community assembly observed in the rhizosphere of an annual grass. This discovery provides a mechanistic underpinning for the process of rhizosphere microbial community assembly and provides an attractive direction for the manipulation of the rhizosphere microbiome for beneficial outcomes.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Union (EU); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0010570; SC0016247; SC0014079; 659910
OSTI ID:
1471041
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1597099
Journal Information:
Nature Microbiology, Vol. 3, Issue 4; ISSN 2058-5276
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 839 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Defining trait-based microbial strategies with consequences for soil carbon cycling under climate change journal September 2019
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The Roles of Plant Growth Promoting Microbes in Enhancing Plant Tolerance to Acidity and Alkalinity Stresses journal July 2020
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Mediterranean grassland soil C–N compound turnover is dependent on rainfall and depth, and is mediated by genomically divergent microorganisms journal May 2019
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