Microbiome Dynamics of Rice and Tomato under Drought Stress and Recovery

This project investigates the effects of drought stress and recovery on plant-associated microbial communities in rice and tomato. Plants were grown in a pooled natural soil substrate to provide a diverse microbial background. Half of the plants were subjected to progressive drought stress followed by severe water deprivation, while the remaining plants were maintained under well-watered control conditions. After plants exhibited clear drought stress symptoms, irrigation was resumed to induce a recovery phase. Samples were collected at two time points: during the stress phase (control and drought-stressed plants) and after the recovery phase (control and previously stressed plants after rewatering). Rhizosphere and endosphere microbiomes were characterized using 16S rRNA gene and ITS amplicon sequencing to analyze bacterial and fungal community composition. In addition, the initial pooled soil substrate was sequenced to characterize the baseline microbial community present in the growth medium.

本项目探究了干旱胁迫及其恢复过程对水稻与番茄植株相关微生物群落的影响。实验采用混合天然土壤基质栽培植株，以构建多样化的微生物背景菌群。半数植株接受渐进式干旱胁迫，随后施以重度水分剥夺处理，剩余植株则维持在充分供水的对照状态。当植株显现明确的干旱胁迫症状后，恢复灌溉以启动恢复阶段。采样共设置两个时间节点：一是胁迫阶段（涵盖对照组与干旱胁迫组植株），二是恢复阶段（涵盖对照组及复水后的前期受胁迫植株）。通过16S核糖体RNA基因（16S rRNA gene）与内转录间隔区（Internal Transcribed Spacer，ITS）扩增子测序，对根际（rhizosphere）与内生圈（endosphere）的微生物组进行表征，以解析细菌与真菌的群落组成。此外，对初始混合土壤基质进行测序，以明确生长培养基中本底微生物群落的组成特征。