Auxin-producing bacteria promote barley rhizosheath formation

Feiyun Xu, Hanpeng Liao, Jinyong Yang, Yingjiao Zhang, Peng Yu, Yiying Cao, Ju Fang, Shu Chen, Liang Li, Leyun Sun, Chongxuan Du, Ke Wang, Xiaolin Dang, Zhiwei Feng, Yifan Cao, Ying Li, Jianhua Zhang and Weifeng Xu ()
Additional contact information
Feiyun Xu: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Hanpeng Liao: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Jinyong Yang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Yingjiao Zhang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Peng Yu: University of Bonn
Yiying Cao: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Ju Fang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Shu Chen: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Liang Li: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Leyun Sun: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Chongxuan Du: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Ke Wang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Xiaolin Dang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Zhiwei Feng: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Yifan Cao: Yangzhou University
Ying Li: Yangzhou University
Jianhua Zhang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Weifeng Xu: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The rhizosheath, or the layer of soil closely adhering to roots, can help plants to tolerate drought under moderate soil drying conditions. Rhizosheath formation is the result of poorly understood interactions between root exudates, microbes, and soil conditions. Here, we study the roles played by the soil microbiota in rhizosheath formation in barley (a dry crop). We show that barley rhizosheath formation is greater in acid soil than in alkaline soil, and inoculation with microbiota from acid soil enhances rhizosheath formation in alkaline soil. The rhizosheath-promoting activity is associated with the presence of Flavobacteriaceae and Paenibacillaceae bacteria that express genes for biosynthesis of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, a common auxin), as determined by metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. Two bacterial strains isolated from rhizosheath (Chryseobacterium culicis and Paenibacillus polymyxa) produce IAA and enhance barley rhizosheath formation, while their IAA-defective mutants are unable to promote rhizosheath formation. Co-inoculation with the IAA-producing strains enhances barley grain yield in field experiments through an increase in spike number. Our findings contribute to our understanding of barley rhizosheath formation, and suggest potential strategies for crop improvement.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40916-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40916-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40916-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().