Ectomycorrhizal fungi integrate nitrogen mobilisation and mineral weathering in boreal forest soil.

Tree growth in boreal forests is driven by ectomycorrhizal fungal mobilisation of organic nitrogen and mineral nutrients in soils with discrete organic and mineral horizons. However, there are no studies of how ectomycorrhizal mineral weathering and organic nitrogen mobilisation processes are integrated across the soil profile. We studied effects of organic matter (OM) availability on ectomycorrhizal functioning by altering the proportions of natural organic and mineral soil in reconstructed podzol profiles containing Pinus sylvestris plants, using 13 CO2 pulse labelling, patterns of naturally occurring stable isotopes (26 Mg and 15 N) and high-throughput DNA sequencing of fungal amplicons. Reduction in OM resulted in nitrogen limitation of plant growth and decreased allocation of photosynthetically derived carbon and mycelial growth in mineral horizons. Fractionation patterns of 26 Mg indicated that magnesium mobilisation and uptake occurred primarily in the deeper mineral horizon and was driven by carbon allocation to ectomycorrhizal mycelium. In this horizon, relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi, carbon allocation and base cation mobilisation all increased with increased OM availability. Allocation of carbon through ectomycorrhizal fungi integrates organic nitrogen mobilisation and mineral weathering across soil horizons, improving the efficiency of plant nutrient acquisition. Our findings have fundamental implications for sustainable forest management and belowground carbon sequestration.

Bacterial microbiomes of individual ectomycorrhizal Pinus sylvestris roots are shaped by soil horizon and differentially sensitive to nitrogen addition.

Plant roots select non-random communities of fungi and bacteria from the surrounding soil that have effects on their health and growth, but we know little about the factors influencing their composition. We profiled bacterial microbiomes associated with individual ectomycorrhizal Pinus sylvestris roots colonized by different fungi and analyzed differences in microbiome structure related to soils from distinct podzol horizons and effects of short-term additions of N, a growth-limiting nutrient commonly applied as a fertilizer, but known to influence patterns of carbon allocation to roots. Ectomycorrhizal roots growing in soil from different horizons harboured distinct bacterial communities. The fungi colonizing individual roots had a strong effect on the associated bacterial communities. Even closely related species within the same ectomycorrhizal genus had distinct bacterial microbiomes in unfertilized soil, but fertilization removed this specificity. Effects of N were rapid and context dependent, being influenced by both soil type and the particular ectomycorrhizal fungi involved. Fungal community composition changed in soil from all horizons, but bacteria only responded strongly to N in soil from the B horizon where community structure was different and bacterial diversity was significantly reduced, possibly reflecting changed carbon allocation patterns.

Fractionation and assimilation of Mg isotopes by fungi is species dependent.

Symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi mobilize nutrients from both organic and inorganic substrates and supply them to their host plants. Their role in mobilizing base cations and phosphorus from mineral substrates through weathering has received increasing attention in recent years but the processes involved remain to be elucidated. We grew selected ectomycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal fungi in axenic systems containing mineral and organic substrates and examined their capacity to fractionate and assimilate stable isotopes of magnesium. The mycorrhizal fungi were significantly depleted in heavy isotopes with the lowest Δ26 Mg values (the difference between δ26 Mg in fungal tissue and δ26 Mg in the substrate) compared with nonmycorrhizal fungi, when grown on mineral substrates containing granite particles. The ectomycorrhizal fungi accumulated significantly higher concentrations of Mg, K and P than the nonmycorrhizal fungi. There was a highly significant statistical relationship between δ26 Mg tissue signature and mycelial concentration of Mg, with a clear separation between most ectomycorrhizal fungi and the nonmycorrhizal fungi. These results are consistent with the idea that ectomycorrhizal fungi have evolved efficient mechanisms to mobilize, transport and store Mg within their mycelia.