Character variation of root space microbial community composition in the response of drought-tolerant spring wheat to drought stress

Jing Fang; Shuli Wei; Yanrong Gao; Xiangqian Zhang; Yuchen Cheng; Jianguo Wang; Jie Ma; Gongfu Shi; Lanfang Bai; Rui Xie; Xiaoqing Zhao; Yongfeng Ren; Zhanyuan Lu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1235708

Character variation of root space microbial community composition in the response of drought-tolerant spring wheat to drought stress

Front Microbiol. 2023 Sep 15:14:1235708. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1235708. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jing Fang^{1

2

3}, Shuli Wei^{1

2

3

4}, Yanrong Gao^{1

2

3}, Xiangqian Zhang^{2

3

4

5}, Yuchen Cheng^{2

3

4}, Jianguo Wang^{2

3

4}, Jie Ma^{1

2

3}, Gongfu Shi¹, Lanfang Bai⁵, Rui Xie^{2

3

4}, Xiaoqing Zhao^{1

2

3

4}, Yongfeng Ren^{1

2

3

4}, Zhanyuan Lu^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Science, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.
² Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Hohhot, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Black Soil Protection and Utilization (Hohhot), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hohhot, China.
⁴ Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Degradation Farmland Ecological Restoration and Pollution Control, Hohhot, China.
⁵ College of Agronomy, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.

Abstract

Drought is the most prevalent environmental stress in crop production, posing a significant danger to food security. Microorganisms in the crop root zone affect crop growth and development, enhance effective nutrient use, and resist adversity hazards. To analyze the changes and functional differences of root space microbial (endosphere-rhizosphere-bulk soil) communities in spring wheat under drought stress. In this study, the root, rhizosphere, and bulk soil of the drought-tolerant group (DTG, three varieties) and drought-sensitive group (DSG, three varieties) were collected. The control (CK, 25-28%), moderate drought (MD, 15-18%), and severe drought (SD, 9-12%) were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics. The results showed significant differences in the diversity of Bacteria and Fungi in the root space of spring wheat under drought stress (P < 0.05), with the drought-tolerant group exhibiting higher microbial diversity. The microbial community change in spring wheat root space was mainly determined by the niche differentiation of endosphere, rhizosphere, and bulk soil and declined from endosphere to bulk soil due to drought. The antagonism between microbial and root-space species increased, and the community's complexity and stability deteriorated. Enriching drought-resistant preference groups like Actinobaciota, Variovorax, Streptomyces, and Conocybe altered the structure and function of the microbial community in the root space of spring wheat. Spring wheat's root space Bacteria and Fungi have different strategies to respond to drought.

Keywords: bacterial diversity; drought stress; fungal diversity; root-space microorganism; spring wheat.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31860356 and 32260457); the High-end talent training projects of Grassland Talents in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; the Leading Talent Project of “Science and Technology Leading Talent Team Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region” (2022LJRC0010); the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Natural Science Foundation Project Key Projects (2022ZD13); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD1500901-5); and the Inner Mongolia Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Innovation Fund Project (2022CXJJN08 and 2022CXJJM04).