AUTHOR=Khanh Nguyen Van , Dutta Swarnalee , Kim Chang-Su , Lee Yong Hoon 

TITLE=Features of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere of Gastrodia elata cultivated in greenhouse for early harvest

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1389907

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1389907

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Symbiotic microbes are essential for developing and growing <italic>Gastrodia elata</italic>, an achlorophyllous orchid of high medicinal value. Recently, the cultivation of <italic>G. elata</italic> in greenhouses has been adopted in Korea to produce mature tubers in a short time. However, no studies have been conducted on the microbial community structure of <italic>G. elata</italic> cultivated in greenhouse environments. Therefore, we analyzed the temporal features of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere of <italic>G. elata</italic> at the juvenile [JT; 2 months after sowing (MAS)], young (YT; 6 MAS), and mature (MT; 11 MAS) tuber stages using culture-dependent and high-throughput sequencing technology. The richness and diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities decreased with tuber growth of <italic>G. elata.</italic> The symbiotic fungi <italic>Mycena</italic> sp. and <italic>Armillaria</italic> sp. as well as tuber extract inhibited the growth of various soil-inhabiting fungal and bacterial strains, indicating that <italic>G. elata</italic> and its symbiotic fungi play important roles in the selection of rhizosphere microbes. <italic>Mortierella rishikesha</italic> was the most abundant fungal species in the rhizosphere. We also identified the microorganisms potentially beneficial for <italic>G. elata</italic> development during greenhouse cultivation. Tubers and symbiotic fungi actively exert selective pressure on rhizosphere microbes, influencing the diversity and abundance of bacterial and fungal communities as <italic>G. elata</italic> grows. This study is a first report on the temporal microbial community structure of <italic>G. elata</italic> cultivated in greenhouse. The results on the associated microbiome of <italic>G. elata</italic> will help understand their beneficial interactions with <italic>G. elata</italic> and contribute to improvement in cultivation.</p>