Diversity and structural differences of bacterial microbial communities in rhizocompartments of desert leguminous plants

Abstract

By assessing diversity variations of bacterial communities under different rhizocompartment types (i.e., roots, rhizosphere soil, root zone soil, and inter-shrub bulk soil), we explore the structural difference of bacterial communities in different root microenvironments under desert leguminous plant shrubs. Results will enable the influence of niche differentiation of plant roots and root soil on the structural stability of bacterial communities under three desert leguminous plant shrubs to be examined. High-throughput 16S rRNA genome sequencing was used to characterize diversity and structural differences of bacterial microbes in the rhizocompartments of three xeric leguminous plants. Results from this study confirm previous findings relating to niche differentiation in rhizocompartments under related shrubs, and they demonstrate that diversity and structural composition of bacterial communities have significant hierarchical differences across four rhizocompartment types under leguminous plant shrubs. Desert leguminous plants showed significant hierarchical filtration and enrichment of the specific bacterial microbiome across different rhizocompartments (P < 0.05). The dominant bacterial microbiome responsible for the differences in microbial community structure and composition across different niches of desert leguminous plants mainly consisted of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. All soil factors of rhizosphere and root zone soils, except for NO3—N and TP under C. microphylla and the two Hedysarum spp., recorded significant differences (P < 0.05). Moreover, soil physicochemical factors have a significant impact on driving the differentiation of bacterial communities under desert leguminous plant shrubs. By investigating the influence of niches on the structural difference of soil bacterial communities with the differentiation of rhizocompartments under desert leguminous plant shrubs, we provide data support for the identification of dominant bacteria and future preparation of inocula, and provide a foundation for further study of the host plants-microbial interactions.