Effects of chromium stress on the rhizosphere microbial community composition of Cyperus alternifolius

Wetland plants are often used as the main body of soil, and the rhizosphere is a hot spot migration and transformation. Response mechanism to rhizosphere microorganisms on chromium(Cr) stressing could help improve the phytoremediation system. Cyperus alternifolius(CA) is selected as the research object by Cr-stress treatments and uncontaminated treatments with different cultivated pattern, included sole cultivated pattern(CAI), twocultivated pattern (CAII), three-cultivated pattern (CAIII), and the un-planted blank samples (CK). 16s rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing are performed to measure rhizosphere microbial community. And Five common enzymes in rhizosphere soils were observed: 13-1,4-glucosidase (BG), 13-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), 13-1,4-xylosidase (BX), cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and Leucine amino peptidase (LAP) in the rhizosphere. The results show that Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Deltaproteobacteria are top five (63.97%) of the total sequence number. Wetland plants enriched a large amount of soil Cr in themselves, and the rhizosphere microorganisms don't show significant difference in community structure after affecting. 10.48% variation of microbial community is caused by Cr-stress. Acidovorax showed a great potential for chromium resistance. BX involvement in tolerance processes indirectly affects microbial communities (P < 0.01), there is a strong linear relationship between enzyme activity and the plants accumulating Cr and microbial community within 15.58% variant. The material accumulation and microbial quantity of CAIII are relatively low, but high biodiversity remains after affecting. These results provide references for indepth understanding of rhizosphere microbial response to heavy metal pollution in wetland phytoremediation and interaction between wetland plants and rhizosphere microorganisms.

Automated summary

Wetland plants play a significant role in phytoremediation, with the rhizosphere microbial community showing a certain response to chromium stress. The study found that there was no significant difference in community structure of rhizosphere microorganisms after being affected, and approximately 10.48% of microbial community variation was caused by chromium stress.