Investigating the Mechanism of Cadmium-Tolerant Bacterium Cellulosimicrobium and Ryegrass Combined Remediation of Cadmium-Contaminated Soil.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution has been rapidly increasing due to the global rise in industries. Cd not only harms the ecological environment but also endangers human health through the food chain and drinking water. Therefore, the remediation of Cd-polluted soil is an imminent issue. In this work, ryegrass and a strain of Cd-tolerant bacterium were used to investigate the impact of inoculated bacteria on the physiology and biochemistry of ryegrass and the Cd enrichment of ryegrass in soil contaminated with different concentrations of Cd (4 and 20 mg/kg). The results showed that chlorophyll content increased by 24.7% and 41.0%, while peroxidase activity decreased by 56.7% and 3.9%. In addition, ascorbic acid content increased by 16.7% and 6.3%, whereas glutathione content decreased by 54.2% and 6.9%. The total Cd concentration in ryegrass increased by 21.5% and 10.3%, and the soil's residual Cd decreased by 86.0% and 44.1%. Thus, the inoculation of Cd-tolerant bacteria can improve the antioxidant stress ability of ryegrass in Cd-contaminated soil and change the soil's Cd form. As a result, the Cd enrichment in under-ground and above-ground parts of ryegrass, as well as the biomass of ryegrass, is increased, and the ability of ryegrass to remediate Cd-contaminated soil is significantly improved.

Inoculation of cadmium-tolerant bacteria to regulate microbial activity and key bacterial population in cadmium-contaminated soils during bioremediation.

The perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne can be used in conjunction with cadmium (Cd)-tolerant bacteria such as Cdq4-2 (Enterococcus spp.) for bioremediation of Cd-contaminated soil. In this study, a theoretical basis was provided to increase the efficiency of L. perenne remediation of Cd-contaminated soil using microorganisms to maintain the stability of the soil microbiome. The experimental design involved three treatment groups: CK (soil without Cd addition) as the control, 20 mg·kg-1 Cd-contaminated soil, and 20 mg·kg-1 Cd-contaminated soil + Cdq4-2, all planted with L. perenne. The soil was collected on day 60 to determine the soil microbial activity and bacterial community structure and to analyze the correlation between soil variables, the bacterial community, available Cd content in the soil, Cd accumulation, and L. perenne growth. The soil microbial activity and bacterial community diversity decreased under Cd stress, and the soil microbial community composition was changed; while inoculation with Cdq4-2 significantly increased soil basal respiration and the activities of urease, invertase, and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolase by 83.65%, 79.72%, 19.88%, and 96.15% respectively; and the stability of the community structure was also enhanced. The Actinobacteriota biomass, the amount of available Cd, and the above- and belowground Cd content of L. perenne were significantly negatively correlated with the total phosphorus, total potassium, and pH. The activity of urease, invertase, and FDA hydrolase were significantly positively correlated with the biomasses of Acidobacteriota and L. perenne and significantly negatively correlated with the Chloroflexi biomass. Further, the available soil Cd content and the above- and belowground Cd levels of L. perenne were significantly positively correlated with the Actinobacteriota biomass and significantly negatively correlated with the Gemmatimonadetes biomass. Overall, inoculating Cd-tolerant bacteria improved the microbial activity, diversity, and abundance, and changed the microbial community composition, facilitating the remediation of Cd-contaminated soil by L. perenne.

Effects of applying peanut shell and its biochar on the microbial activity and community structure of dryland red soil.

Due to its soil formation process, dryland red soil has certain characteristics that are unfavorable for crop growth, including acidity, fineness, plate structures, and erosivity. The use of large amounts of fertilizer can decrease fertility and biodiversity and increase acidification, thereby seriously restricting the sustainable utilization of dryland red soil resources. Therefore, there is an urgent need for techniques that improve the crop quality and yield in dryland red soil areas. Returning crop waste to fields as fertilizer is a promising approach to sustainable agriculture. In the present study, the effects of applying peanut shell and an associated biochar product to dryland red soil were investigated, with a focus on soil microbial activity and community structure. Field experiments were conducted in Jiangxi Province, southern China, in 2020, in field plots of sweet potato crops. Seven treatments were set up according to the principle of equal carbon return to farmland: Control: (conventional fertilization); S1, S2, S3 (peanut shell application of 3000, 4500 and 6000 kg hm-2, respectively); and BC1, BC2, BC3 (peanut shell biochar application of 1000, 1500 and 2000 kg hm-2, respectively). The application of peanut shell and its biochar improved soil basal respiration, with the greatest increase relative to controls of 161.06% found in treatment S3 at the root harvest stage. The most obvious increase in microbial biomass carbon content due to biochar application was 206.50% in treatment BC2 at the root harvest stage. The application of peanut shell and its biochar increased the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) contents of total soil microorganisms and different microbial groups. The maximum increases in the PLFA contents of total soil microorganisms, gram-positive bacteria, and gram-negative bacteria occurred at the early root formation stage in treatment BC2, which were 112.16%, 102.52%, and 115.64%, respectively. Both peanut shell and biochar increased the PLFA contents of soil actinomycetes, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and other fungi to certain extents. The soil actinomycetes PLFAs increased by 120.08% at the early root formation stage in BC2, while the AMF PLFAs increased by 79.44% at the seedling stage in S2. This study provides theoretical and practical guidance for the comprehensive utilization of peanut shell and the implementation of circular agriculture in dryland red soil regions. It also provides a scientific basis for improving the fertility of dryland red soil.

Nitrogen, manganese, iron, and carbon resource acquisition are potential functions of the wild rice Oryza rufipogon core rhizomicrobiome.

BACKGROUND: The assembly of the rhizomicrobiome, i.e., the microbiome in the soil adhering to the root, is influenced by soil conditions. Here, we investigated the core rhizomicrobiome of a wild plant species transplanted to an identical soil type with small differences in chemical factors and the impact of these soil chemistry differences on the core microbiome after long-term cultivation. We sampled three natural reserve populations of wild rice (i.e., in situ) and three populations of transplanted in situ wild rice grown ex situ for more than 40 years to determine the core wild rice rhizomicrobiome. RESULTS: Generalized joint attribute modeling (GJAM) identified a total of 44 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) composing the core wild rice rhizomicrobiome, including 35 bacterial ASVs belonging to the phyla Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Nitrospirae and 9 fungal ASVs belonging to the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Rozellomycota. Nine core bacterial ASVs belonging to the genera Haliangium, Anaeromyxobacter, Bradyrhizobium, and Bacillus were more abundant in the rhizosphere of ex situ wild rice than in the rhizosphere of in situ wild rice. The main ecological functions of the core microbiome were nitrogen fixation, manganese oxidation, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, chemoheterotrophy, and iron respiration, suggesting roles of the core rhizomicrobiome in improving nutrient resource acquisition for rice growth. The function of the core rhizosphere bacterial community was significantly (p < 0.05) shaped by electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus present in the soil adhering to the roots. CONCLUSION: We discovered that nitrogen, manganese, iron, and carbon resource acquisition are potential functions of the core rhizomicrobiome of the wild rice Oryza rufipogon. Our findings suggest that further potential utilization of the core rhizomicrobiome should consider the effects of soil properties on the abundances of different genera. Video Abstract.

Responses of soil enzyme activities and bacterial community structure to different hydrological regimes during peatland restoration in the Changbai Mountain, northeast China.

Appropriate hydrological management is critical for peatland restoration. An important prerequisite for peatland restoration is a recovery of soil biological processes. However, little is known about the effects of different hydrological management practices on soil biological processes during peatland restoration. In this study, the variations in soil properties, enzyme activities, and bacterial communities across different peatlands, namely natural peatland (NP), peatland restored under high water level (HR), peatland restored under alternating high-low water level (HLR), peatland restored under low water level (LR), and degraded peatland (DP), in the Changbai Mountains were investigated. Results showed that soil organic carbon, soil water content, and total nitrogen in NP were significantly higher than those in restored and degraded peatlands, and these soil properties in restored peatlands increased with the water level. The activities of soil hydrolases including ß-1, 4-glucosidase, ß-1, 4-n-acetylglucosidase, and acid phosphatase in NP were higher than in restored and degraded peatlands, while the activity of polyphenol oxidase in NP was the lowest. In restored peatlands, all measured enzyme activities decreased with the decline in water level. Both bacterial diversity and richness in NP were the lowest, while the highest diversity and richness were observed in HR. Redundancy analysis indicated that soil organic carbon, water level, soil water content, total nitrogen, and pH were the most important factors that affected the soil enzyme activities and bacterial community. Our findings give insight into the effects of different hydrological regimes on soil biological processes during peatland restoration. Maintaining a high water level early in the restoration process is more beneficial to restoring the ecological functions of peatlands than other hydrological regimes.

Changing soil carbon: influencing factors, sequestration strategy and research direction.

Soil carbon (C) plays a critical role in the global C cycle and has a profound effect on climate change. To obtain an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of global soil C changes and better manage soil C, all meta-analysis results published during 2001-2019 relative to soil C were collected and synthesized. The effects of 33 influencing factors on soil C were analyzed, compared and classified into 5 grades according to their effects on soil C. The effects of different categories of influencing factors, including land use change (LUC), management and climate change, on soil C and the underlying mechanism were compared and discussed. We propose that natural ecosystems have the capacity to buffer soil C changes and that increasing C inputs is one of the best measures to sequester C. Furthermore, a comparison between the meta-analyses and previous studies related to soil C based on bibliometric analysis suggested that studies on wetland soil C, soil C budgets and the effects of pollution and pesticides on soil C should be strengthened in future research.

Connection the Rhizomicrobiome and Plant MAPK Gene Expression Response to Pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum in Wild and Cultivated Soybean.

Little known the connections between soybeans mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) gene expression and the rhizomicrobiome upon invasion of the root pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. To address this lack of knowledge, we assessed the rhizomicrobiome and root transcriptome sequencing of wild and cultivated soybean during the invasion of F. oxysporum. Results indicated F. oxysporum infection enriched Bradyrhizobium spp. and Glomus spp. and induced the expression of more MAPKs in the wild soybean than cultivated soybean. MAPK gene expression was positively correlated with Pseudomonadaceae but negatively correlated with Sphingomonadaceae and Glomeraceae in both cultivated and wild soybean. Specifically, correlation profiles revealed that Pseudomonadaceae was especially correlated with the induced expression of GmMAKKK13-2 (Glyma.14G195300) and GmMAPK3-2 (Glyma.12G073000) in wild and cultivated soybean during F. oxysporum invasion. Main fungal group Glomeraceae was positively correlated with GmMAPKKK14-1 (Glyma.18G060900) and negatively correlated with GmRaf6-4 (Glyma.02G215300) in the wild soybean response to pathogen infection; while there were positive correlations between Hypocreaceae and GmMAPK3-2 (Glyma.12G073000) and between Glomeraceae and GmRaf49-3 (Glyma.06G055300) in the wild soybean response, these correlations were strongly negative in the response of cultivated soybean to F. oxysporum. Taken together, MAPKs correlated with different rhizomicrobiomes indicating the host plant modulated by the host self-immune systems in response to F. oxysporum.

Plants exhibit significant effects on the rhizospheric microbiome across contrasting soils in tropical and subtropical China.

The rhizospheric microbiome appears to be one of the key determinants of plant health and productivity. In this study, to understand the assembly process of the rhizospheric microbiome, the effects of different sites, soils and plants on the rhizospheric microbiome were compared and examined using high-throughput sequencing. A series of comparisons of rhizospheric microbiomes were conducted using two plants (wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) and L. hexandra (Leersia hexandra Swartz)), two soils (high nutrient and low nutrient) and two sites (Guangdong and Hainan provinces in China). The results of the redundancy analysis, between-class analysis and coinertia analysis indicated that the factors shaping the rhizospheric microbiome (in decreasing order of strength), were the site, soil and plant. The effects of plants on the rhizospheric microbiome were slight and unobvious, with relatively low-explained variations and few core groups and indicator groups; however, the effects were significant across different sites and soils, especially for specific microbial groups that are closely associated with plants, such as pathogens, symbionts, and saprotrophs. Furthermore, rhizospheric fungi were more strongly influenced by plants than rhizospheric bacteria. Our results provide insights into the relationships among multiple factors that shape the rhizospheric microbiome in natural ecosystems and highlight the effects of plants across regional environmental shifts.

The rhizomicrobiomes of wild and cultivated crops react differently to fungicides.

The fungicides used to control diseases in cereal production can have adverse effects on non-target microbial communities, with possible consequences for plant health and productivity. Although we know that fungicides affect microbial community structure and soil activities, it is unclear how crop cultivars have altered the impact of fungicides on rhizomicrobiomes. In this study, the rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities and structures of cultivated crops and their wild relatives were studied by Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis. The results indicated that the rhizomicrobiome communities of wild crops reacted more strongly to fungicides than that of their cultivated relatives. Furthermore, fungal community composition was more affected by fungicides than bacterial community composition. Remarkably, the same trend was observed in both soybean and rice with regard to the influence of crop cultivar on the response of the rhizomicrobiome to fungicide application, although the level of the response was not similar. We report for the first time that the rhizomicrobiomes of wild crops reacted more strongly to fungicides than the rhizomicrobiomes of cultivated crops.

Similar soil microbial community structure across different environments after long-term succession: evidence from volcanoes of different ages.

Soil microbes play critical roles in global biogeochemical cycles, but their succession patterns across long temporal scales have rarely been studied. In this study, soil samples were collected from three volcanoes in Wudalianchi, northeastern China: Laoheishan (LH, approximately 240 years old), Dongjiaodebushan (DJ, 0.45-0.6 million years old), and Nangelaqiushan (NG, 0.8-1.3 million years old). For each volcano, both southern (S) and northern (N) slope aspects were sampled. Soil microbial communities were analyzed using phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA). The results showed that soil properties and microbial biomass changed perceptibly among different volcanoes and different slope aspects. Almost all of the detected soil nutrient contents of LH were lowest, and total microbial biomass of LH was 40 and 36% lower than those of NG and DJ, respectively. LH was significantly different from NG and DJ in soil microbial community structure with a higher relative abundance of fungi and a lower relative abundance of actinomycetes and bacteria. However, for the two ancient volcanoes (NG and DJ), soil microbial community structures were highly similar among different ages and different slope aspects. No difference was detected in any of the measured microbial indices, including richness, evenness, Shannon's diversity, Simpson's diversity and the relative abundance of different microbial groups. The results indicated that while soil microbial biomass may change across different soil environments after long-term succession, soil microbial community structure can remain relatively stable. The results further indicated that soil microbes may show different successional patterns in different stages of succession.

Root-associated bacterial diversities of Oryza rufipogon and Oryza sativa and their influencing environmental factors.

Oryza rufipogon is the ancestor of human-cultivated Oryza sativa. However, little is known about the difference between the root-associated microorganisms of O. rufipogon and O. sativa. In this study, the root-associated bacteria of O. rufipogon, Leersia hexandra, and O. sativa from different latitudes in China were studied by DGGE analysis. Their bacterial community structures were compared by principal component analysis. The relationship between root-associated bacteria and soil properties was explored by canonical correspondence analysis. The relationships of glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) content, soluble sugar content, proline content of the plant, and bacterial diversity indices of their root-associated microorganisms were also investigated. We found both broad-spectrum and host-specific bacteria, and the similarity, diversity and abundance indices of O. rufipogon and L. hexandra were higher than O. sativa root-associated bacteria. However, even living in the same habitat, O. rufipogon and L. hexandra selected different root-associated bacteria. Microbial composition was primarily correlated with available N, P, and K and the annual precipitation. We also found a positive correlation between the soluble sugar content of the plant and GRSP content of the root soil. The above results indicated that the community structure of root-associated bacteria differs between wild rice and cultivated rice. Human activity and the natural selection of the host plants shaped the differences, consistent with our hypothesis.