Drought has become a major agricultural threat leading crop yield loss. Although a few species of rhizobacteria have the ability to promote plant growth under drought, the drought tolerance of the soil microbiome and its relationship with the promotion of plant growth under drought are scarcely studied. This study aimed to develop a novel approach for assessing drought tolerance in agricultural land by quantitatively measuring microbial phenotypes using stable isotopes and Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy with deuterium isotope probing was used to identify the Raman signatures of drought effects from drought-tolerant bacteria. Counting drought-tolerant cells by applying these phenotypic properties to agricultural samples revealed that 0% to 52.2% of all measured single cells had drought-tolerant properties, depending on the soil sample. The proportions of drought-tolerant cells in each soil type showed similar tendencies to the numbers of revived pea plants cultivated under drought. The phenotype of the soil microbiome and plant behavior under drought conditions therefore appeared to be highly related. Studying metagenomics suggested that there was a reliable link between the phenotype and genotype of the soil microbiome that could explain mechanisms that promote plant growth in drought. In particular, the proportion of drought-tolerant cells was highly correlated with genes encoding phytohormone production, including tryptophan synthase and isopentenyl-diphosphate delta-isomerase; these enzymes are known to alleviate drought stress. Raman spectroscopy with deuterium isotope probing shows high potential as an alternative technology for quantitatively assessing drought tolerance through phenotypic analysis of the soil microbiome. IMPORTANCE Soil microbiome has played a critical role in the plant survival during drought. However, the drought tolerance of soil microbiome and its ability to promote plant growth under drought is still scarcely studied. In this study, we identified the Raman signature (i.e., phenotype) of drought effects from drought-tolerant bacteria in agricultural soil samples using Raman-deuterium isotope probing (Raman-DIP). Moreover, the number of drought-tolerant cells measured by Raman-DIP was highly related to the survival rate of plant cultivation under drought and the abundance of genes encoding phytohormone production alleviating drought stress in plant. These results suggest Raman-DIP is a promising technology for measuring drought tolerance of soil microbiome. This result give us important insight into further studies of a reliable link between phenotype and genotype of soil microbiome for future plant-bacteria interaction research.
Keywords: Raman-DIP; drought; drought tolerance; metagenomics; phenotype; soil microbiome.