Abstract
Plant-associated microbial communities have diverse phenotypic effects on their hosts that are only beginning to be revealed. We hypothesized that morpho-physiological variations in the tropical tree Tabebuia heterophylla, observed on different geological substrates, arise in part due to microbial processes in the rhizosphere. We characterized the microbiota of the rhizosphere and soil communities associated with T. heterophylla trees in high and low altitude sites (with varying temperature and precipitation) of volcanic, karst and serpentine geologies across Puerto Rico. We sampled 6 areas across the island in three geological materials including volcanic, serpentine and karst soils. Collection was done in 2 elevations (>450m and 0-300m high), that included 3 trees for each site and 4 replicate soil samples per tree of both bulk and rhizosphere. Genomic DNA was extracted from 144 samples, and 16S rRNA V4 sequencing was performed on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia were the most dominant phyla, and microbiomes clustered by geological substrate and elevation. Volcanic samples were enriched in Verrucomicrobia; karst was dominated by nitrogen-fixing Proteobacteria, and serpentine sites harbored the most diverse communities, with dominant Cyanobacteria. Sites with similar climates but differing geologies showed significant differences on rhizobiota diversity and composition demonstrating the importance of geology in shaping the rhizosphere microbiota, with implications for the plant's phenotype. Our study sheds light on the combined role of geology and climate in the rhizosphere microbial consortia, likely contributing to the phenotypic plasticity of the trees.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia were the dominant rhizosphere phyla.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophylla
Tabebuia heterophyllat0 - Interactor
- Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and VerrucomicrobiaPseudomonadotaVerrucomicrobiotaActinomycetotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- most dominant phylae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia were the most dominant phyla”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
Microbiomes clustered by geological substrate and elevation.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Outcome
- microbiomes clusterede0
- Setting
- geological substrate and elevatione0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“microbiomes clustered by geological substrate and elevation”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
Volcanic samples were enriched in Verrucomicrobia.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Interactor
- VerrucomicrobiaVerrucomicrobiotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- Verrucomicrobiae0
- Direction
- enrichede0
- Setting
- Volcanice0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Volcanic samples were enriched in Verrucomicrobia”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
Karst samples were dominated by nitrogen fixing Proteobacteria.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Interactor
- ProteobacteriaPseudomonadotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- nitrogen-fixing Proteobacteriae0
- Setting
- karste0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“karst was dominated by nitrogen-fixing Proteobacteria”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
Serpentine sites had the most diverse communities with dominant Cyanobacteria.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Interactor
- CyanobacteriaCyanobacteriotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- most diverse communitiese0
- Setting
- serpentine sitese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“serpentine sites harbored the most diverse communities, with dominant Cyanobacteria”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
Sites with similar climates but different geology differed significantly in rhizobiota diversity and composition.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Outcome
- rhizobiota diversity and compositione0
- Setting
- differing geologiese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sites with similar climates but differing geologies showed significant differences on rhizobiota diversity and composition”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors inferred that geology and climate jointly shape rhizosphere consortia and may contribute to tree phenotypic plasticity.
- Taxon
- Tabebuia heterophyllaTabebuia heterophyllat0
- Outcome
- phenotypic plasticity of the treese0
- Qualifier
- rhizosphere microbial consortiae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“combined role of geology and climate in the rhizosphere microbial consortia, likely contributing to the phenotypic plasticity of the trees”
t0“Tabebuia heterophylla”