Bacterial but Not Fungal Rhizosphere Community Composition Differ among Perennial Grass Ecotypes under Abiotic Environmental Stress
Soumyadev Sarkar, Abigail Kamke, Kaitlyn Ward, A.K. Rudick, Sara G. Baer, Qinghong Ran, Brandi Feehan, Shiva Thapa, Lauren Anderson, Matthew Galliart, Ari Jumpponen, Loretta C. Johnson, Sonny T. M. Lee
Abstract
In this study, we used a 10-year long reciprocal garden system, and reports that different ecotypes (dry, mesic, and wet) of dominant prairie grass, Andropogon gerardii can maintain or recruit distinct bacterial but not fungal rhizobiomes after 10 years in an arid environment. We used both 16S rRNA and ITS2 amplicons to analyze the bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizospheres of the respective ecotypes. We showed that A. gerardii might regulate the bacterial community to adapt to the arid environment, in which some ecotypes were not adapted to. Our study also suggested a possible tradeoff between the generalist and the specialist bacterial communities in specific environments, which could benefit the plant host. Our study will provide insights into the plant host regulation of the rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities, especially during frequent drought conditions anticipated in the future.