Core microbial taxa strengthen root microbial network stability under drought stress

Abstract

Drought stress is intensifying globally, but its effects on plant-associated microbiome diversity and stability remain poorly understood. We grew wheat under drought stress and sampled bulk soils, rhizosphere soils and roots across three growth stages to quantify microbial diversity, co-occurrence network stability and the contributions of core taxa to network stability. Drought affected microbial diversity depending on microbial kingdoms, plant niches and growth stages. We further found that drought stress reduced the complexity and stability of microbial networks in the rhizosphere soils while enhancing those in the roots, mainly through shifts in the abundances of core taxa (i.e., taxa that are widely distributed across samples, specific to drought stress and highly connected in the network). Three types of analyses (shared operational taxonomic units, network keystone nodes and taxa with high specificity and occupancy values) were employed to identify the core taxa enriched in the roots under drought stress, including Glycomyces and Thermoactinomycetaceae, which were typical drought-tolerant taxa that are important for maintaining root microbial network stability. Environment stress usually disrupts microbial community stability, but we found drought stress enriched core taxa, enhancing drought-tolerant crop root microbiomes stability. Our findings provide a blueprint for enhancing crop stress tolerance via microbiome manipulation.