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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1572494
Comparative analysis of actinorhizal nodule and associated soil microorganism diversity and structure in three Alnus species
Provisionally accepted- 1Tonghua Normal University, Tonghua, China
- 2Biology Department, Hope College, Holland, MI 49423, USA, Holland, United States
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Background Due to the importance of biological nitrogen fixation in terrestrial ecosystems, actinorhizal symbiosis has attracted more and more attention. Alders (Alnus) are important actinorhizal plants, but little is known about the diversity of symbiotic microbiota in the actinorhizal nodules. In addition, it remains unclear about the influence of the host species and habitats on the microbial community of alder root nodules and rhizospheric soils. Methods In this study we sequenced the hyper-variable regions of the 16S rRNA from the root nodules and their rhizosphere soils of three alder species (Alnus mandshurica, A. sibirica, A. japonica) in northeastern China to explore the diversity, composition, network association, and nitrogen cycling pathway of the microbial communities in the actinorhizal nodules and associated soils.The results showed that the microbial community α-diversity decreased significantly from the associated soil to the root nodule, and the microbial diversity in the root nodule of A. sibirica was not affected by the habitats. The dominant microbe genus in alder nodules was Frankia, whose abundance was significantly higher than that in associated soil samples. Furthermore, the abundance of Frankia was affected by alder tree species, but not by the habitats. The most significant taxon in the nodules of all the three alders was Frankia genus, which was negatively correlated with other
Keywords: Alnus, root nodules, 16S rRNA, Frankia, Symbiosis
Received: 10 Feb 2025; Accepted: 15 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tong, Liu, Liu, Zhu, Zhou and Li. 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:
Wei Liu, Tonghua Normal University, Tonghua, China
You Zhou, Tonghua Normal University, Tonghua, China
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