State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China.
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8008, Switzerland.
Commun Biol. 2024 Aug 29;7(1):1061. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06741-1.
Halophyte shrubs, prevalent in arid regions globally, create saline fertile islands under their canopy. This study investigates the soil microbial communities and their energy utilization strategies associated with tamarisk shrubs in arid ecosystems. Shotgun sequencing revealed that high salinity in tamarisk islands reduces functional gene alpha-diversity and relative abundance compared to bare soils. However, organic matter accumulation within islands fosters key halophilic archaea taxa such as Halalkalicoccus, Halogeometricum, and Natronorubrum, linked to processes like organic carbon oxidation, nitrous oxide reduction, and sulfur oxidation, potentially strengthening the coupling of nutrient cycles. In contrast, bare soils harbor salt-tolerant microbes with genes for autotrophic energy acquisition, including carbon fixation, H or CH consumption, and anammox. Additionally, isotope analysis shows higher microbial carbon use efficiency, N mineralization, and denitrification activity in tamarisk islands. Our findings demonstrate that halophyte shrubs serve as hotspots for halophilic microbes, enhancing microbial nutrient transformation in saline soils.
盐生灌木在全球干旱地区较为常见，其树冠下形成盐分肥沃的岛屿。本研究调查了与干旱生态系统中的柽柳灌木相关的土壤微生物群落及其能量利用策略。Shotgun 测序表明，与裸土相比，柽柳岛的高盐度降低了功能基因的 α 多样性和相对丰度。然而，岛屿内的有机物质积累促进了关键的嗜盐古菌分类群，如 Halalkalicoccus、Halogeometricum 和 Natronorubrum，它们与有机碳氧化、氧化亚氮还原和硫氧化等过程有关，可能加强了养分循环的耦合。相比之下，裸土中含有具有自养能量获取基因的耐盐微生物，包括碳固定、H 或 CH 消耗和厌氧氨氧化。此外，同位素分析表明，柽柳岛上的微生物碳利用效率、氮矿化和反硝化活性更高。我们的研究结果表明，盐生灌木是嗜盐微生物的热点，增强了盐分土壤中微生物对养分的转化。
