Hargreaves, C. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria differentially contribute to ammonia oxidation in soil under precipitation gradients and land legacy

BackgroundGlobal change has accelerated the nitrogen cycle. Soil nitrogen stock degradation by microbes leads to the release of various gases, including nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) participate in the soil nitrogen cycle, producing N2O. There are outstanding questions regarding the impact of environmental processes such as precipitation and land use legacy on AOA and AOB structurally, compositionally, and functionally. To answer these questions, we analyzed field soil cores and soil monoliths under varying precipitation profiles and land legacies. ResultsWe resolved 28 AOA and AOB metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) and found that they were significantly higher in drier environments and differentially abundant in different land use legacies. We further dissected AOA and AOB functional potentials to understand their contribution to nitrogen transformation capabilities. We identified the involvement of stress response genes, differential metabolic functional potentials, and subtle population dynamics under different environmental parameters for AOA and AOB. We observed that AOA MAGs lacked a canonical membrane-bound electron transport chain and F-type ATPase but possessed A/A-type ATPase, while AOB MAGs had a complete complex III module and F-type ATPase, suggesting differential survival strategies of AOA and AOB. ConclusionsThe outcomes from this study will enable us to comprehend how drought-like environments and land use legacies could impact AOA- and AOB-driven nitrogen transformations in soil.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2021

Apoplastic effector candidates of a foliar forest pathogen trigger cell death in host and non-host plants

Forests are under threat from pests, pathogens, and changing climate. One of the major forest pathogens worldwide is Dothistroma septosporum, which causes dothistroma needle blight (DNB) of pines. D. septosporum is a hemibiotrophic fungus related to well-studied Dothideomycete pathogens, such as Cladosporium fulvum. These pathogens use small secreted proteins, termed effectors, to facilitate the infection of their hosts. The same effectors, however, can be recognised by plants carrying corresponding immune receptors, resulting in resistance responses. Hence, effectors are increasingly being exploited to identify and select disease resistance in crop species. In gymnosperms, however, such research is scarce. We predicted and investigated apoplastic D. septosporum candidate effectors (DsCEs) using bioinformatics and plant-based experiments. We discovered secreted proteins that trigger cell death in the angiosperm Nicotiana spp., suggesting their recognition by immune receptors in non-host plants. In a first for foliar forest pathogens, we also developed a novel protein infiltration method to show that tissue-cultured pine shoots can respond with a cell death response to one of our DsCEs, as well as to a reference cell death-inducing protein. These results contribute to our understanding of forest pathogens and may ultimately provide clues to disease immunity in both commercial and natural forests.

plant biology↗