Microbial Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Gut Microbiota and Feeding Patterns of the Antarctic Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta gaini Daday, 1910): A Metabarcoding Perspective.","authors":"Stanisław Cukier, Jan Gawor, Jakub Grzesiak","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02820-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-026-02820-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how feeding ecology and environmental conditions shape gut microbiota is essential for interpreting host-microbe interactions in extreme environments. Here, we investigated the diet and gut-associated bacterial communities of the Antarctic fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini across multiple postglacial freshwater ponds on King George Island. We combined microscopic gut content analysis with 18 S and 16 S rRNA gene metabarcoding and distinguished between gut content and gut tract-associated bacterial fractions in pooled, pond-level samples to assess the relative roles of diet, host filtering, and environmental context in structuring gut-associated communities. Our results reveal pronounced dietary flexibility of B. gaini, with strong site-specific differences in consumed eukaryotic taxa reflecting local resource availability. This trophic variability was mirrored by highly variable gut-associated bacterial communities, characterized by low taxonomic overlap among ponds and the absence of a stable core microbiota at the pooled sample level. Although bacterial assemblages differed between gut contents and gut tract, consistent at the composite-sample scale, this pattern suggests limited evidence for strong host filtering. Gut-associated communities retained pond-specific signatures, indicating a dominant role of environmental sourcing. Environmental drivers influenced different aspects of gut microbiome organization: hydrological connectivity and associated conductivity gradients were linked to shifts in bacterial community composition, whereas water temperature showed a non-linear association with bacterial alpha diversity but not with overall community structure. Water pH showed no detectable effect on either metric. Together, these findings indicate that gut-associated bacterial communities of B. gaini, as captured by pooled samples, largely reflect environmentally acquired assemblages shaped by opportunistic feeding and local environmental filtering. This ecological flexibility may represent a key strategy enabling persistence of B. gaini across highly heterogeneous Antarctic freshwater ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148369021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring Metabolic Interaction between Ophiostoma novo-ulmi and Geosmithia spp.","authors":"Alessia Lucia Pepori, Hari Berto, Alessandra Gionni, Nicola Luchi, Francesco Pecori, Alberto Santini","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02822-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-026-02822-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dutch elm disease (DED), caused by the invasive vascular pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, is one of the most devastating pandemics affecting elms. Within beetle galleries and on elm bark beetle vectors, O. novo-ulmi co-occurs with fungi of the genus Geosmithia, yet the functional significance of this association remains poorly understood. This study investigates metabolic interactions between O. novo-ulmi and Geosmithia spp. using in vitro dual-culture experiments and phenotype microarray analysis to elucidate ecological mechanisms potentially influencing disease development and vector ecology. Dual-culture assays on dH₂O agar revealed that O. novo-ulmi subsp. novo-ulmi exhibited significantly enhanced radial growth rates when cultured in proximity to Geosmithia isolates. Phenotypic analysis revealed distinct metabolic strategies: O. novo-ulmi subsp. novo-ulmi utilised substrates within 12-24 h and preferred polyols and simple carbohydrates, while G. pumila adopted a progressive colonization strategy, ultimately utilising 92 substrates in 90 h and demonstrating greater utilisation of nitrogen-enriched substrates, nucleosides and complex organic acids. Co-culture revealed utilization of adenosine and nitrogen-rich compounds, but antagonistic interactions for polyols and amino sugars. Niche overlap analysis showed asymmetric resource partitioning: O. novo-ulmi subsp. novo-ulmi utilized 98% of G. pumila's substrates versus 81% reciprocal overlap, while fungal competitiveness analysis indicated G. pumila superiority. The distinct metabolic strategies and complementary patterns of substrate utilisation suggest niche construction and the functional partitioning of resources. These findings provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of a functional association within the DED pathosystem. The results highlight the ecological importance of microbial community complexity in pathogenic interactions and suggest that understanding these multitrophic relationships is essential for the development of effective disease management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148369028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing Aquatic Environmental DNA, Microscopy and Sedimentary DNA to Investigate Cyanobacterial Community Dynamics Across a Trophic Gradient.","authors":"Robin Michael Crucitti-Thoo, Tümer Orhun Aykut, Agnieszka Rudak, Iwona Jasser","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02806-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00248-026-02806-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As a result of increasing temperatures and anthropogenic stressors, freshwater biomonitoring indicates that toxigenic and non-native cyanobacterial species are increasing globally. Because of the high-effort nature of traditional microscopy, aquatic Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding as a form of biomonitoring is becoming commonplace. While eDNA has been found to complement microscopic phytoplankton analysis, it has also been demonstrated that recent eDNA from surficial sediments (sedDNA) can also be a powerful tool to monitor a variety of organisms including benthic and planktonic microorganisms. However, comparisons between all three methods are rare. Therefore, we compared cyanobacterial metabarcoding data derived from aquatic eDNA and sedDNA to cell density and biomass determined by traditional planktonic microscopic analysis on samples taken from more than 20 lakes in the Masurian and Suwałki Lakelands of north-east Poland; an area composed of thousands of lakes with diverse morphologies, land-use histories, and varying trophic states. We found that there was a high degree of within method (eDNA/sedDNA, cell density/biomass) correspondence between the approaches, with trophic changes plausibly driving general patterns in taxa leading to these underlying agreements. Between methods, cell density proved to be more closely associated with eDNA, but was not found to be statistically significant. We postulate that cell numbers are a more similar metric to sequence read numbers than biomass, but that unique qualities of each measure mean that the approaches examined are complementary, rather than redundant. We detected several invasive taxa, which appear to have increased in abundance along the trophic gradients, and postulate that the accumulating nature of sediments may prove useful in detecting invasive taxa, particularly in the low-abundance early introductory stages.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148352458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shifts in the Rhizosphere Bacterial Community and Improved Essential Oil Yield and Quality in Chamomilla recutita L. Plant Through Cyanobacterial Inoculation.","authors":"Doaa Ibrahim, Afaf H Ali, Ahmed Refaat, Rehab Z Abdallah, Sameh AbouZid, Tarek Elsayed, Mehrshan El Mokadem, Gabriele Berg, Eman Nour","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02815-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00248-026-02815-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rhizosphere bacterial communities play a crucial role in improving nutrient availability, disease and stress resistance, and overall development in plants. Biofertilizers can enhance plant growth, but little is known about their mode of interaction. Here, we studied the impact of seedling coating with two nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterial strains, Nostoc sp. NoHu, or Anabaenopsis circularis AnHu, on chamomile (Chamomilla recutita L.) growth, essential oil yield and quality, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, and the composition of rhizosphere bacterial communities, under field conditions in Egypt. The rhizosphere bacterial community, analyzed by 16 S rRNA amplicon libraries, composed of 31 phyla and 164 different genera. Compared to untreated plants, the application of both strains showed contrasting effects. Nostoc sp. application significantly enhanced almost all tested plant growth parameters, including fresh and dry weights of shoots, roots, and flowers, as well as the yield and content of vital essential oil constituents and the apigenin-7-O-glucoside. Furthermore, Nostoc sp. application increased both the abundance and diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial community compared to untreated plants, suggesting an indirect effect mediated through altering the rhizosphere bacterial community structure. In contrast, A. circularis application negatively affected essential oil yield and quality, exhibited the lowest bacterial abundance and diversity. These findings highlight potential of Nostoc sp. NoHu to boost chamomile productivity and essential oil quality. The contradictory responses between the two cyanobacterial strains emphasize strain-specific effects with Nostoc sp. NoHu as a promising biofertilizer candidate for chamomile.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13315271/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148345337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rainfall Drives Differentiation of Plant Rhizosphere Microbial Communities in Two Different Types of Alpine Wetlands: A Perspective Based on a Carbon-Water Coupling Framework.","authors":"Shuchang Zhu, Ziwei Yang, Hairui Zhao, Yuyu Ma, Kelong Chen, Desheng Qi","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02823-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-026-02823-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The alpine wetlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are confronting significant ecological challenges due to drastic shifts in precipitation patterns. Elucidating the response mechanisms of rhizosphere microbial communities in wetland plants to precipitation events is critical to understanding ecosystem resilience. In this study, sandy wetlands at Niaodao and riverine wetlands at Haergai in the Qinghai Lake basin were selected as study sites. Using Poa alpigena rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils as the research subjects, metagenomic DNA sequencing combined with environmental factor analysis was employed to compare the microbial community responses before and after a single pulse precipitation event. The results showed that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the dominant phyla in both wetland types (combined relative abundance > 70%). Rainfall induced a differentiated restructuring of soil microbial community composition across different habitats. In rhizosphere soils, rainfall significantly reduced microbial alpha diversity. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that the rhizosphere community shifted from a competition-coexistence pattern before rainfall to a cooperative adaptation pattern after rainfall, with significant increases in modular cohesion and the proportion of positive correlations. Metagenomic analysis indicated that the number of differentially abundant metabolic pathways in soil microorganisms increased markedly after rainfall, rising to 46 and 40 pathways in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere, respectively (compared to 3 and 31 before rainfall), indicating a shift from carbon reserve metabolism to energy-producing metabolism. Total carbon and water content were identified as the core environmental factors jointly regulating community assembly. This study reveals the mechanism by which regional background, precipitation disturbance, and the rhizosphere effect synergistically drive the succession of microbial communities in alpine wetlands, providing a new paradigm for understanding ecosystem adaptation to climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148339295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rare Taxa and Stochastic Drift Drive the Microbiome Assembly of the Invasive Pest Drosophila suzukii, While Host Filtering Structures the Grape Sour Rot Community.","authors":"Rishi Bhandari, Zoe Wills, Jackie Harris, Marnelle Salie, Nana Y D Ankrah, Adam Chun-Nin Wong, Katharine Eastman, Joseph Ringbauer, R Keith Striegler, David S Kang","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02819-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-026-02819-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the processes that shape microbial community structure is a central challenge in ecology. The relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes in driving the microbiome assembly and composition remains poorly understood across diverse animal and plant hosts. Here, we characterized the bacterial (16 S rRNA) and fungal (ITS rRNA) communities in invasive pest spotted wing Drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii) and sour-rot-affected grapes from seven California vineyards using high-throughput sequencing. We found that while the bacterial microbiome of male and female SWD was compositionally similar, these communities were entirely distinct from those on sour rot-affected grapes, indicating strong host-specific filtering. SWD also harbored substantially higher microbial density and greater diversity compared to grapes. Ecological modeling revealed a fundamental divergence in assembly mechanisms: SWD communities were predominantly shaped by stochastic processes, with a neutral model explaining 40% of the variation. In contrast, sour-rot-affected grape communities were structured by a combination of stochastic and deterministic factors. Importantly, taxa that deviated from neutral predictions, thereby indicating selection, were primarily classified as rare or intermediate in abundance. This suggests that low-abundance taxa may act as keystone drivers of dysbiosis during rot development. These results highlight the differing assembly rules governing a vector-host system: the mobile vector acts as a stochastic reservoir, promoting pathogen dispersal, while the sessile host imposes strict environmental filtering. This underscores the critical role of rare taxa in shaping community structure and ecosystem stability in SWD and its host grapes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148339221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metagenomic Analysis of Rural Groundwater Viromes Reveals Bacteriophage Contributions to Groundwater Microbial Ecology.","authors":"Manar-Aleslam M Mattar, Walaa A Eraqi, Mohamed Bakr Zaki, Akram M Elkashlan, Khaled A M Abouzid, Ramy K Aziz, Aymen S Yassin, Ali H A Elbehery","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02818-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00248-026-02818-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Groundwater ecosystems host diverse microbial communities, yet the diversity and ecological roles of their associated viral genomes remain poorly characterized. Here, we investigated viral community composition, diversity, host associations, lifestyles, and auxiliary metabolic potential in groundwater from three hand pumps located in Toukh, Qalyubia, Egypt, representing distinct local surroundings and potential contamination pressures. Using complementary viral detection approaches and a quality assessment workflow, we recovered 9,534 non-redundant viral contigs spanning a wide range of viral genome quality. Taxonomic profiling revealed dominance of tailed dsDNA bacteriophages (Uroviricota/Caudoviricetes) across all pumps, with ~ 99% of contigs not assigned below the class level. Whereas the viral composition of pump 3 was distinct and its diversity was consistently higher, pumps 1 and 2 clustered together, a pattern mirrored across taxonomic scales and diversity metrics. The majority of predicted viral hosts belonged to phylum Pseudomonadota, followed by Actinomycetota, Bacillota and Bacteroidota, with levels that varied between pumps. Correlation and network analyses showed strong concordance between the relative abundance of bacteria and the abundance of viruses that potentially infect them. Lifestyle prediction indicated a descending relative abundance of viruses with lysogenic lifestyle from pumps 1 through 3. Auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) related mainly to nucleotide, amino acid, and cofactor metabolism were detected in all pumps, with distinct pump-specific repertoires suggesting localized viral metabolic strategies. Together, these results demonstrate that groundwater viromes are ecologically structured and highly novel, with the potential ability to modulate host metabolism, highlighting their potential role in shaping subsurface microbial communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13303688/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148308742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Third-generation RNA Amplicon Sequencing Reveals the Dynamics of Microbial Communities in the Tidal Reach of a Subtropical Estuary.","authors":"Qiqi Deng, Jialing Li, Xiaoqing Luo, Ziqi Peng, Wendong Xian, Haixian Xiong, Leiping Ye, Huan Liu, Jie Ren, Jiaxue Wu, Wenjun Li, Pandeng Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02804-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-026-02804-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Estuarine ecosystems are characterized by periodic tidal cycles that induce dynamic salinity fluctuations, yet how these dynamic salinity changes affect microbial diversity, community composition, and network structure remains poorly understood. Answering this question would enhance our understanding of the effects of periodic tides on microbial communities in estuaries. To address this knowledge gap, we collected hourly water samples over a 24-h time series from the tidal reach of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and explored the dynamics of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial diversity and their co-occurrence networks during a complete tidal cycle by utilizing RNA-derived cDNA combined with third-generation (PacBio) amplicon sequencing. This approach targets the active microbial community (by using RNA) while providing high taxonomic resolution (by full-length sequencing of 16S rRNA gene / ITS regions). Our results revealed that salinity was the dominant driver of the changes of microbial diversity and community compositions in the tidal reach, with a significant decrease in microbial alpha diversity as salinity increased. Furthermore, we observed a non-linear relationship between salinity and microbial network complexity and stability. Notably, network stability in both single- and cross-domain networks was positively correlated with connectance and P/N (the positive-to-negative edge ratio). Additionally, cross-domain networks exhibited higher complexity (node numbers, total links, and average node degree), but lower network stability (robustness and vulnerability) compared to single-domain co-occurrence networks. Overall, our findings provide comprehensive insights into how periodic salinity fluctuations regulate microbial community structure and cross-domain interactions in dynamic estuarine environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148302425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vitamin B₁₂ Availability and Interaction with Bacterium Mesorhizobium loti Affect Growth and Biochemical Composition of Mixotrophic Alga Euglena Gracilis.","authors":"Sadikshya Ghimire, Mohammad Salar Sohrabi, Xuan Zhou, Marjo Malinen, Markku Keinänen, Steffi Goffart, Sarita Keski-Saari, Ursula Strandberg","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02816-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00248-026-02816-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over 90% of the mixotrophic algae surveyed require vitamin B₁₂ (B₁₂), a micronutrient synthesized exclusively by certain prokaryotes. Bacteria-mediated B₁₂ supply presents an important but poorly understood control on physiology and nutritional quality of freshwater algae. Here, we examined the effects of B₁₂ availability and the B₁₂-synthesizing bacterium, Mesorhizobium loti, on the growth and biochemical composition of the freshwater bloom-forming mixotrophic alga, Euglena gracilis. We also investigated bacteria-alga interactions under highly labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) supplementation with and without physical contact. Our results indicate that B₁₂ deficiency reduced algal growth and the accumulation of the essential fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Co-culture with M. loti resulted in higher EPA and DHA accumulation than supplementation with exogenous B₁₂ alone. Despite this, E. gracilis accumulated less intracellular B₁₂ in co-culture than under direct B₁₂ addition, suggesting altered B₁₂ acquisition or utilization during bacterial interactions. Increasing B₁₂ concentration enhanced total protein content in E. gracilis under sufficient nitrogen conditions but had no effect under nitrogen limitation. The addition of labile DOC directly promoted algal growth, indicating its direct utilization. No significant difference was observed in algal growth in co-cultures with and without physical contact, indicating that possible B₁₂ sharing from bacteria mainly occurs through diffusible metabolites. These findings demonstrate that B₁₂-synthesizing bacteria influence the growth and nutritional quality (in terms of EPA, DHA and protein content) of E. gracilis, with potential consequences for freshwater ecosystem productivity and trophic transfer.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148302505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foliar Application of Bacillus thuringiensis Regulates Soil Physicochemical Properties and Microbial Ecological Functions in Tea Plantations.","authors":"Pumo Cai, Yulin Xiong, Weifeng Wang, Xi Du, Chengcong Lu, Yanyan Li, Qisong Li, Yongcong Hong","doi":"10.1007/s00248-026-02813-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00248-026-02813-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is widely employed as a biological control agent against pests in tea plantations, yet its impacts on soil health and microbial ecology remain insufficiently understood. This study investigated the effects of two Bt application regimes, namely moderate-frequency conventional Bt application (Bt1, 3 sprays over 21 days) and high-frequency intensive Bt application (Bt2, 6 sprays over 42 days), on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and microbial community structure and function in tea soils. The moderate-frequency conventional Bt1 significantly improved soil nutrient status by increasing organic matter, available nitrogen, and potassium, and boosted acid protease, sucrase, and cellulase activities, while Bt2 achieved the maximum urease and polyphenol oxidase activities but failed to promote soil available nutrients and organic matter as effectively as Bt1. Although neither Bt treatment induced notable shifts in overall microbial alpha-diversity indices, community composition differed distinctly between the two treatments. Bt1 enriched beneficial taxa related to nitrogen fixation and organic matter degradation including Pseudomonas, Bradyrhizobium, and Sphingomonas, and sharply suppressed pathogenic fungi such as Aspergillus and Curvularia, whereas Bt2 caused an 18.29% reduction in Sphingomonas abundance with limited enrichment of beneficial bacteria. Functional predictions indicated that Bt1 amplified microbial carbon degradation and nitrogen cycling, enriched saprotrophic and symbiotic fungi and reduced plant pathogens by 85.78%, while both Bt treatments elevated saprotrophic fungi yet Bt2 only reduced pathogens by 11.84%. Co-occurrence network analyses revealed enhanced microbial interactions and community stability under Bt1, while excessive high-frequency Bt2 reduced network connectivity and stability compared with CK and Bt1. These results suggest that moderate-frequency conventional Bt application can positively modulate soil microbial communities and ecosystem functions, providing valuable insights for sustainable pest management and soil health maintenance in tea agroecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":18708,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148302491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}