Enhancing phosphate-solubilising microbial communities through artificial selection

TY - JOUR

T1 - Enhancing phosphate-solubilising microbial communities through artificial selection

AU - Faller, Lena

AU - Leite, Marcio F. A.

AU - Kuramae, Eiko E.

N1 - Data archiving: ena, with publication; Code archiving: with publication

PY - 2024/2/23

Y1 - 2024/2/23

N2 - Microbial communities, acting as key drivers of ecosystem processes, harbour immense potential for sustainable agriculture practices. Phosphate-solubilising microorganisms, for example, can partially replace conventional phosphate fertilisers, which rely on finite resources. However, understanding the mechanisms and engineering efficient communities poses a significant challenge. In this study, we employ two artificial selection methods, environmental perturbation, and propagation, to construct phosphate-solubilising microbial communities. To assess trait transferability, we investigate the community performance in different media and a hydroponic system with Chrysanthemum indicum. Our findings reveal a distinct subset of phosphate-solubilising bacteria primarily dominated by Klebsiella and Enterobacterales. The propagated communities consistently demonstrate elevated levels of phosphate solubilisation, surpassing the starting soil community by 24.2% in activity. The increased activity of propagated communities remains consistent upon introduction into the hydroponic system. This study shows the efficacy of community-level artificial selection, particularly through propagation, as a tool for successfully modifying microbial communities to enhance phosphate solubilisation.

AB - Microbial communities, acting as key drivers of ecosystem processes, harbour immense potential for sustainable agriculture practices. Phosphate-solubilising microorganisms, for example, can partially replace conventional phosphate fertilisers, which rely on finite resources. However, understanding the mechanisms and engineering efficient communities poses a significant challenge. In this study, we employ two artificial selection methods, environmental perturbation, and propagation, to construct phosphate-solubilising microbial communities. To assess trait transferability, we investigate the community performance in different media and a hydroponic system with Chrysanthemum indicum. Our findings reveal a distinct subset of phosphate-solubilising bacteria primarily dominated by Klebsiella and Enterobacterales. The propagated communities consistently demonstrate elevated levels of phosphate solubilisation, surpassing the starting soil community by 24.2% in activity. The increased activity of propagated communities remains consistent upon introduction into the hydroponic system. This study shows the efficacy of community-level artificial selection, particularly through propagation, as a tool for successfully modifying microbial communities to enhance phosphate solubilisation.

KW - Phosphates

KW - Ecosystem

KW - Soil Microbiology

KW - Agriculture

KW - Soil

KW - Microbiota/genetics

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-024-46060-x

DO - 10.1038/s41467-024-46060-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 38388537

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 15

SP - 1649

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 1649

ER -