Microbial Biogeochemistry, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research E.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany.
Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 1;12(1):11197. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-15133-6.
Leaf microbiota mediates foliar functional traits, influences plant fitness, and contributes to various ecosystem functions, including nutrient and water cycling. Plant phenology and harsh environmental conditions have been described as the main determinants of leaf microbiota assembly. How climate change may modulate the leaf microbiota is unresolved and thus, we have a limited understanding on how environmental stresses associated with climate change driven weather events affect composition and functions of the microbes inhabiting the phyllosphere. Thus, we conducted a pot experiment to determine the effects of flooding stress on the wheat leaf microbiota. Since plant phenology might be an important factor in the response to hydrological stress, flooding was induced at different plant growth stages (tillering, booting and flowering). Using a metabarcoding approach, we monitored the response of leaf bacteria to flooding, while key soil and plant traits were measured to correlate physiological plant and edaphic factor changes with shifts in the bacterial leaf microbiota assembly. In our study, plant growth stage represented the main driver in leaf microbiota composition, as early and late plants showed distinct bacterial communities. Overall, flooding had a differential effect on leaf microbiota dynamics depending at which developmental stage it was induced, as a more pronounced disruption in community assembly was observed in younger plants.
叶片微生物组介导叶片功能性状，影响植物适应性，并有助于多种生态系统功能，包括养分和水循环。植物物候和恶劣的环境条件被描述为叶片微生物组组装的主要决定因素。气候变化如何调节叶片微生物组尚不清楚，因此，我们对与气候变化驱动的天气事件相关的环境压力如何影响栖息在叶片上的微生物的组成和功能知之甚少。因此，我们进行了一项盆栽实验，以确定水淹胁迫对小麦叶片微生物组的影响。由于植物物候可能是对水文胁迫响应的一个重要因素，因此在不同的植物生长阶段（分蘖、孕穗和开花）诱导了水淹。使用代谢组学方法，我们监测了叶片细菌对水淹的响应，同时测量了关键的土壤和植物特性，以将植物和土壤生理因素的变化与细菌叶片微生物组组装的变化相关联。在我们的研究中，植物生长阶段是叶片微生物组组成的主要驱动因素，因为早期和晚期植物表现出不同的细菌群落。总体而言，水淹对叶片微生物组动态的影响取决于诱导的发育阶段，在较年轻的植物中观察到群落组装的更明显破坏。
