Myrothamnus flabellifolia microbiome. Microbiome

Drought is a major challenge in agriculture, adversely affecting crop productivity. Myrothamnus flabellifolia is a resurrection plant that can tolerate extreme desiccation and revive after rehydration. Using the resurrection plant microbiome to enhance the drought tolerance of staple food crops is a promising avenue in the agricultural sector. However, the microbiome of resurrection plants remains unexplored and there is limited literature on which beneficial microorganisms are associated with M. flabellifolia. This study investigated the bacterial and fungal communities in the bulk soil, rhizosphere and endosphere under extreme drought by use of high-throughput amplicon metagenome sequencing. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy was used for soil elemental analysis. We found a significant enrichment of monoderm (Actinomycetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes) and diderm (Acidobacteria, Bacteriodetes) lineages in rhizosphere and endosphere compared to the bulk soil, except for Chloroflexi, which showed enrichment in bulk soil. Ascomycota were abundant in all compartments, while Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota were highly enriched in the rhizosphere and endosphere compared to the bulk soil. The rhizosphere was more enriched with a diversity of microbes believed be drought tolerant compared to other compartments. Soil physicochemical factors (moisture and hydrogen concentration) significantly influenced the enrichment of specific microbial communities in the rhizosphere relative to those in bulk soil. Rhizosphere microorganisms appear to have the capacity to enhance moisture content and reduce soil acidity, thereby likely alleviating some of the abiotic stresses faced by M. flabellifolia. Taken together these findings suggest that root-associated microbiome of M. flabellifolia has co-evolved traits to tolerate extreme drought stress.