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. 2016 Jun 15:6:27756.
doi: 10.1038/srep27756.

Specific impacts of beech and Norway spruce on the structure and diversity of the rhizosphere and soil microbial communities

S Uroz  1   2 , P Oger  3 , E Tisserand  1 , A Cébron  4   5 , M-P Turpault  2 , M Buée  1 , W De Boer  6 , J H J Leveau  7 , P Frey-Klett  1
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Specific impacts of beech and Norway spruce on the structure and diversity of the rhizosphere and soil microbial communities

S Uroz et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The impacts of plant species on the microbial communities and physico-chemical characteristics of soil are well documented for many herbs, grasses and legumes but much less so for tree species. Here, we investigate by rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing the diversity of microorganisms from the three domains of life (Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryota:Fungi) in soil samples taken from the forest experimental site of Breuil-Chenue (France). We discovered significant differences in the abundance, composition and structure of the microbial communities associated with two phylogenetically distant tree species of the same age, deciduous European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and coniferous Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst), planted in the same soil. Our results suggest a significant effect of tree species on soil microbiota though in different ways for each of the three microbial groups. Fungal and archaeal community structures and compositions are mainly determined according to tree species, whereas bacterial communities differ to a great degree between rhizosphere and bulk soils, regardless of the tree species. These results were confirmed by quantitative PCR, which revealed significant enrichment of specific bacterial genera, such as Burkholderia and Collimonas, known for their ability to weather minerals within the tree root vicinity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Quantification of specific taxa by quantitative PCR.
Conditions presenting different letters are significantly different according to a one-factor ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test (P < 0.05). Treatments are presented as follows: B-BS (beech bulk soil), B-R (beech rhizosphere), NW-BS (Norway spruce bulk soil), NW-R (Norway spruce rhizosphere).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Relative distribution (%) of the main taxa detected among the archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities in the beech (B-BS, bulk soil; B-R, rhizosphere) and Norway spruce (NW-BS, bulk soil; NW-R, rhizosphere).
(A) Bacteria, (B) Archaea, (C) Fungal communities based on ITS marker and (D) Fungal communities based on 18S rRNA gene marker. For the 18S rRNA results, the non fungal and apicomplexa sequences detected have been grouped in a category named other. Relative distribution was determined using the mean of 3 biological replicates for each tree species and soil compartment considered.
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References

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