Rhizosphere bacterial communities of <i>Agriophyllum squarrosum</i> (L.) Moq. during different developmental stages

doi:10.1007/s40333-025-0028-4

Journal of Arid Land

2025, Vol. 17

Issue (9): 1282-1296 DOI: 10.1007/s40333-025-0028-4 CSTR: 32276.14.JAL.02500284

Research article

Rhizosphere bacterial communities of Agriophyllum squarrosum (L.) Moq. during different developmental stages

ZHANG Shengnan¹^,²^,³, GAO Haiyan¹^,²^,³, YANG Shanshan⁴, ZHANG Lei¹^,²^,^*(

), YAN Deren¹, HUANG Haiguang¹^,², YANG Zhiguo¹^,², LI Junwen¹^,²^,³, TANG Yuekun⁵, XU Hongbin¹^,²

¹Inner Mongolia Academy of Forestry, Hohhot 010010, China
²Inner Mongolia Duolun Hunshandake Sandland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Xilingol 027300, China
³Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration for Sandy Land Biological Resources Conservation and Cultivation, Hohhot 010010, China
⁴College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
⁵Tongliao Forest Park Management and Protection Center, Tongliao 028000, China

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Abstract

The rhizosphere bacteria play crucial roles in plant health and growth as they are involved in assimilating nutrients and resisting adverse conditions such as nutrient stress, drought, and wind erosion. Agriophyllum squarrosum (L.) Moq. is a pioneer plant used in sand fixation due to its strong resistance to drought and wind erosion. However, the bacterial community characteristics and ecological function in the rhizosphere of A. squarrosum are poorly understood. In this study, soil samples were collected from different developmental stages (seedling stage, vegetative stage, reproductive stage, and withering stage) of A. squarrosum. Illumina Miseq sequencing was used to detect differences in soil bacterial abundance. The Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) program was used to predict bacterial functions, and the relationships among bacteria, functional populations, and soil nutrients were examined using a heatmap analysis. The results showed that the Shannon and Sobs indices of rhizosphere bacteria were significantly higher during the reproductive stage than during the other stages. Pantoea sp. (7.03%) was the dominant genus during the seedling stage; Arthrobacter sp. was the dominant genus during the vegetative (13.94%), reproductive (7.57%), and withering (12.30%) stages. The relative abundances of Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Gemmatimonadetes were significantly high during the reproductive stage. According to the PICRUSt analysis, membrane transport, signal transduction, and environmental adaptation of the bacterial functional population occurred during the seedling stage. Carbohydrate metabolism increased during the vegetative stage, while energy metabolism, lipid metabolism, and biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites of the bacterial functional population significantly increased during the reproductive stage. The abundances of bacterial communities, functional genes, and soil nutrients were synergistically altered during various developmental stages. Our findings suggest that the developmental stages of A. squarrosum play a significant role in defining the composition and structure of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere. The results will provide a basis for better prediction and understanding of soil bacterial metabolic potential and functions of A. squarrosum rhizosphere in sandy areas.

Key words： bacterial diversity developmental stage drought functional prediction soil nutrient wind erosion

Received: 02 April 2025 Published: 30 September 2025

Corresponding Authors: ^*ZHANG Lei (E-mail: lkyzhanglei@126.com)

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	ZHANG Shengnan
	GAO Haiyan
	YANG Shanshan
	ZHANG Lei
	YAN Deren
	HUANG Haiguang
	YANG Zhiguo
	LI Junwen
	TANG Yuekun
	XU Hongbin

Cite this article:

ZHANG Shengnan, GAO Haiyan, YANG Shanshan, ZHANG Lei, YAN Deren, HUANG Haiguang, YANG Zhiguo, LI Junwen, TANG Yuekun, XU Hongbin. Rhizosphere bacterial communities of Agriophyllum squarrosum (L.) Moq. during different developmental stages. Journal of Arid Land, 2025, 17(9): 1282-1296.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-025-0028-4 OR http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2025/V17/I9/1282

Fig. 1 Morphology of Agriophyllum squarrosum (L.) Moq. during different developmental stages. (a), seedling stage; (b), vegetative stage; (c), reproductive stage; (d), withering stage.

Table 1 Nutrient contents and enzyme activities of the rhizosphere soil during different developmental stages

Fig. 2 Diversity indices (a1-a4) and principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) (b) of rhizosphere bacterial communities. S, seedling stage; V, vegetative stage; R, reproductive stage; W, withering stage; PC, principal coordinate. Boxes in Figure 2a1-a4 indicate the IQR (interquartile range, 75^th to 25^th of the data). The median value is shown as a line within the box. Outlier is shown as black circle. Whiskers extend to the most extreme value within 1.5×IQR. Lowercase letters within the same diversity index indicate significant differences among different developmental stages at P<0.050 level.

Fig. 3 Relative abundance of bacterial taxa in the rhizosphere soil at the phylum (a) and genus (b) levels

Fig. 4 Spearman correlations between rhizosphere bacteria at the genus level and soil nutrient and enzyme factors. SOM, soil organic matter; AN, available nitrogen; AP, available phosphorus; AK, available potassium; Su, sucrase; Ur, urease; Pr, neutral protease; Ph, neutral phosphatase; Ca, catalase. *, P<0.050 level; **, P<0.010 level.

Fig. 5 Principal component analysis (PCA) of rhizosphere bacteria functional components. PC, principal component.

Table 2 Relative proportions of primary functional genes of rhizosphere bacteria

Table 3 Relative proportions of secondary functional genes of rhizosphere bacteria

Fig. 6 Relationships between rhizosphere bacterial community and secondary functional genes. GM, global and overview maps; CM, carbohydrate metabolism; AM, amino acid metabolism; EM, energy metabolism; CVM, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins; MT, membrane transport; ST, signal transduction; CCP, cellular community-prokaryotes; Tr, translation; LM, lipid metabolism; XBM, xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism; NM, nucleotide metabolism; RR, replication and repair; OAM, metabolism of other amino acids; SMB, biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites; FSD, folding, sorting, and degradation; TPM, metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides; GBM, glycan biosynthesis and metabolism. *, P<0.050 level; **, P<0.010 level.


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