Rhizosphere microbiota are key drivers of plant nutrition, immunity, and stress tolerance.
Abies ziyuanensis L. K. Fu & S. L. Mo (Pinaceae) is an endangered conifer endemic to China, and its persistence may depend on its interactions with its belowground microbiome. However, how
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Rhizosphere microbiota are key drivers of plant nutrition, immunity, and stress tolerance.
Abies ziyuanensis L. K. Fu & S. L. Mo (Pinaceae) is an endangered conifer endemic to China, and its persistence may depend on its interactions with its belowground microbiome. However, how soil-borne bacterial functional groups respond to, and potentially support,
A. ziyuanensis remains unclear. Based on amplicon high-throughput sequencing data of the 16S rRNA gene and soil physicochemical properties, the bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere soil of
A. ziyuanensis in Yinzhu Laoshan National Nature Reserve in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, was analyzed, and the potential ecological functions and phenotypic characteristics of the bacterial community were predicted to determine the functional taxa characteristics (nitrogen cycle, phototrophy, and chemoheterotrophy) and dominant soil environmental factors. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Chloroflexi were the dominant bacterial taxa in the
A.
ziyuanensis rhizosphere soil, and all bacteria were significantly positively correlated with soil NO
3−-N (
R = 0.47,
p = 0.0079). Based on FAPROTAX, the
A. ziyuanensis rhizosphere soil bacterial community had chemoheterotrophic-related functions, which were more prevalent than nitrogen cycle- and phototrophic-related functions, and the relative abundance of bacteria with nitrogen cycle-related functions was higher than that of those with phototrophic functions. The nitrogen nutrient- and phototrophic-related functional taxa in the rhizosphere soil bacterial community had significant correlations with soil physicochemical properties, whereas the chemoheterotrophic-related functional taxa did not show a significant correlation. Based on BugBase phenotype prediction, Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Chloroflexi made the greatest contribution to the phenotype, with pathogenic and stress tolerance being the most important phenotypes. The pathogenic and stress-tolerant bacteria all belonged to Proteobacteria. The rhizosphere bacteria exhibited rich diversity and dominated several biogeochemical cycling processes. This study identifies beneficial rhizosphere bacteria of
A. ziyuanensis, providing a theoretical basis for conserving soil bacterial diversity and guiding the targeted recruitment of functional bacteria by the endangered plant.
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