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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 128-157.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2025137

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Spatial differences in microbial communities around the root system of Stellera chamaejasme plants of different ages

Bei-bei WANG1(), Chang YANG1, Wen-yan ZHU2, Shi-xiao XU3, Ping SUN1()   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology,Henan University of Science and Technology,Luoyang 471023,China
    2.College of Horticulture and Plant Protection,Henan University of Science and Technology,Luoyang 471023,China
    3.Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Xining 810008,China
  • Received:2025-04-17 Revised:2025-05-16 Online:2026-03-20 Published:2026-01-19
  • Contact: Ping SUN

Abstract:

Stellera chamaejasme is a keystone species with dual ecological characteristics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau grassland ecosystem. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the age of S. chamaejasme on the diversity and community structure of microorganisms in its rhizosphere and surrounding soil. Field sampling was conducted in alpine meadows in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in August 2024. Three age classes (III, IV, and V) of S. chamaejasme were selected, with soil samples collected at horizontal distances of 0 cm (rhizosphere), 30 cm (near-root zone), and 50 cm (far-root zone), and at vertical depths of 10 and 20 cm. Each treatment included three biological replicates, totaling 54 samples. Metagenomic sequencing targeting 16S rRNA and ITS regions was conducted to analyze bacterial and fungal communities, respectively. The results show that the bacterial and fungal species richness and potential diversity in rhizosphere and surrounding soils significantly increased as the age of S. chamaejasme increased (P<0.05). Both sampling location and plant age class significantly influenced soil microbial community structures (P<0.001), with bacterial communities exhibiting particularly pronounced responses to spatial variations. Within the horizontal plane at 10 cm depth, bacterial diversity in the soil of age class III S. chamaejasme was significantly higher in the rhizosphere than in the near-root and far-root zones (P<0.05), while fungal diversity was unaffected by sampling distance. On the vertical plane, bacterial α-diversity indices in the rhizosphere were significantly lower at 20 cm depth than at 10 cm depth (P<0.01), whereas in near-root and far-root zones, neither bacterial diversity nor fungal diversity showed marked differences between depths. The dominant phyla remained stable across spatial gradients, with Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteria as the predominant bacterial phyla, and Ascomycota and Basidiomycota as the dominant fungal phyla, although the relative abundance of dominant genera varied considerably among sampling positions. Consequently, the effects of S. chamaejasme on soil bacterial abundance and diversity varied according to the age class of the plant, soil depth, and horizontal distance, whereas fungal diversity remained largely unaffected by these factors. In the rhizosphere zone, soil depth significantly influenced bacterial diversity, indicating that S. chamaejasme and soil environmental factors jointly regulate microbial community structure. By integrating data on the microbial diversity in the rhizosphere and surrounding soil, this study pioneers the construction of a three-dimensional spatial model of S. chamaejasme-soil microorganism interactions. This provides a novel theoretical framework for elucidating co-evolutionary mechanisms between poisonous plants and soil microorganisms.

Key words: Stellera chamaejasme, age class, rhizosphere microorganisms, metagenomic, diversity