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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1558191
Foliar fungi-imposed costs to plant productivity moderate shifts in composition of the rhizosphere microbiome
Provisionally accepted
Brett R Lane 1*
Molly A Kuhs 2 Max M Zaret 2 Zewei Song 1
Elizabeth T Borer 2
Eric W Seabloom 2
Dan C Schlatter 3 Linda L Kinkel 1- 1 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, United States
- 2 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, United States
- 3 Plant Science Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, St Paul, United States
Plants in grasslands navigate a complex landscape of interactions including competition for resources and defense against pathogens. Foliar fungi can suppress plant growth directly through pathogenic interactions, or indirectly via host growth-defense tradeoffs. The exclusion of foliar fungi allows the reallocation of resources from defense to growth and reproduction. In addition, plants also invest photosynthates in rhizodeposition, or root exudates, which play a significant role in shaping the rhizosphere microbial community. However, it remains unclear what impact the exclusion of foliar fungi has on the allocation of resources to rhizodeposition and the composition of the rhizosphere microbial community. Using a 6-year foliar fungicide study in plots planted with 16 species of native prairie plants, we asked whether foliar fungi influence the rhizosphere microbial composition of a common prairie grass (Andropogon gerardii) and a common legume (Lespedeza capatita). We found that foliar fungicide increased aboveground biomass and season-long plant production, but did not alter root biomass, seed production, or rhizosphere microbial diversity. The magnitude of change in aboveground season-long plant production was significantly associated with the magnitude of change in the rhizosphere microbial community in paired foliar fungicide-treated vs. control plots. These results suggest important coupling between foliar fungal infection and plant investment in rhizodeposition to modify the local soil microbial community.
Keywords: soil ecology, Plant-Microbe Interactions, rhizodeposition, productivity, Rhizosphere microbiome
Received: 09 Jan 2025; Accepted: 17 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lane, Kuhs, Zaret, Song, Borer, Seabloom, Schlatter and Kinkel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Brett R Lane, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, United States
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