Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;32(3):741-751.
doi: 10.1111/mec.16782. Epub 2022 Nov 25.

The rhizosphere microbiome and host plant glucosinolates exhibit feedback cycles in Brassica rapa

Ella DeWolf  1   2 , Marcus T Brock  1 , William John Calder  1 , Daniel J Kliebenstein  3 , Ella Katz  3 , Baohua Li  3   4 , Hilary G Morrison  5 , Lois Maïgnien  5   6 , Cynthia Weinig  1   2
Affiliations

The rhizosphere microbiome and host plant glucosinolates exhibit feedback cycles in Brassica rapa

Ella DeWolf et al. Mol Ecol. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

The rhizosphere microbiome influences many aspects of plant fitness, including production of secondary compounds and defence against insect herbivores. Plants also modulate the composition of the microbial community in the rhizosphere via secretion of root exudates. We tested both the effect of the rhizosphere microbiome on plant traits, and host plant effects on rhizosphere microbes using recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of Brassica rapa that differ in production of glucosinolates (GLS), secondary metabolites that contribute to defence against insect herbivores. First, we investigated the effect of genetic variation in GLS production on the composition of the rhizosphere microbiome. Using a Bayesian Dirichlet-multinomial regression model (DMBVS), we identified both negative and positive associations between bacteria from six genera and the concentration of five GLS compounds produced in plant roots. Additionally, we tested the effects of microbial inoculation (an intact vs. disrupted soil microbiome) on GLS production and insect damage in these RILs. We found a significant microbial treatment × genotype interaction, in which total GLS was higher in the intact relative to the disrupted microbiome treatment in some RILs. However, despite differences in GLS production between microbial treatments, we observed no difference in insect damage between treatments. Together, these results provide evidence for a full feedback cycle of plant-microbe interactions mediated by GLS; that is, GLS compounds produced by the host plant "feed-down" to influence rhizosphere microbial community and rhizosphere microbes "feed-up" to influence GLS production.

Keywords: glucosinolates; insect; microbiome; plant-soil feedback; rhizosphere.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Agerbirk, N., & Olsen, C. E. (2012). Glucosinolate structures in evolution. Phytochemistry, 77, 16-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2012.02.005
    1. Aires, A., Mota, V. R., Saavedra, M. J., Monteiro, A. A., Simões, M., Rosa, E. A. S., & Bennett, R. N. (2009). Initial in vitro evaluations of the antibacterial activities of glucosinolate enzymatic hydrolysis products against plant pathogenic bacteria. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 106(6), 2096-2105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2009.04181.x
    1. Anthony, M. A., Celenza, J. L., Armstrong, A., & Frey, S. D. (2020). Indolic glucosinolate pathway provides resistance to mycorrhizal fungal colonization in a non-host Brassicaceae. Ecosphere, 11(4), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3100
    1. Badri, D. V., Zolla, G., Bakker, M. G., Manter, D. K., & Vivanco, J. M. (2013). Potential impact of soil microbiomes on the leaf metabolome and on herbivore feeding behavior. New Phytologist, 198(1), 264-273. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12124
    1. Bais, H. P., Weir, T. L., Perry, L. G., Gilroy, S., & Vivanco, J. M. (2006). The role of root exudates in rhizosphere interactions with plants and other organisms. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 57(1), 233-266. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.arplant.57.032905.105159

LinkOut - more resources