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Combining ecophysiological and microbial ecological approaches to study the relationship between Medicago truncatula genotypes and their associated rhizosphere bacterial communities

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A Commentary to this article was published on 23 January 2013

Abstract

Background and aims

To assess how plant genotype and rhizosphere bacterial communities may interact, the genetic structure and diversity of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere soil of different Medicago truncatula genotypes were studied in relation to the plant carbon and nitrogen nutrition at the whole plant level.

Methods

The genetic structure and diversity of plant-associated rhizosphere bacterial communities was analysed by Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis and 454-pyrosequencing. In parallel, the carbon and nitrogen nutrition of the plants was estimated by a phenotypic description at both structural level (growth) and functional level (using carbon and nitrogen isotope labeling and an ecophysiological framework).

Results

An early effect of the plant genotype was observed on the rhizosphere bacterial communities, while few significant differences were detected at the plant structural phenotypic level. However, at a functional level, the different Medicago truncatula genotypes could be distinguished by their different nutritional strategies. Moreover, a comparison analysis showed that ecophysiological profiles of the different Medicago truncatula genotypes were correlated to the genetic structure and the diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial communities.

Conclusions

The exploration of the genetic structure and diversity of rhizosphere bacterial communities combined with an ecophysiological approach is an innovative way to progress in our knowledge of plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to P. Mathey, C. Jeudy, V. Durey and A.L. Santoni for their excellent technical assistance, C. Lepinay and J. Manifacier for their help during the three harvests, M. P. Bataillé (Université de Caen, France) for C and N analysis, A. Viollet (INRA, Dijon, France) for mycorrhizal infection determination, O. Mathieu (Université Bourgogne, Dijon, France) for his help on N diffusion, M. Delalande (INRA, Mauguio, France) for seeds of M. Truncatula We also thank S. Dequiedt, D. Moreau, A.S. Voisin, M. Prudent and A. Larmure for their useful advices and R. Thompson for the improvement of the English. This work was supported by a PhD grant to A. Zancarini (project n°089201PPO24S00901) from INRA and the Regional Council of Burgundy (France). We thank the Regional Council of Burgundy for support to intregrated Agrale 6 projects (AIB 29000427 & 29000594).

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  1. INRA, UMR1347 Agroécologie, BP 86510, 21000, Dijon, France

    A. Zancarini, C. Mougel, S. Terrat, C. Salon & N. Munier-Jolain

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  1. A. Zancarini
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  2. C. Mougel
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  3. S. Terrat
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Correspondence to N. Munier-Jolain.

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Zancarini, A., Mougel, C., Terrat, S. et al. Combining ecophysiological and microbial ecological approaches to study the relationship between Medicago truncatula genotypes and their associated rhizosphere bacterial communities. Plant Soil 365, 183–199 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1364-7

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