Plants assemble species specific bacterial communities from common core taxa in three arcto-alpine climate zones

Evidence for the pivotal role of plant-associated bacteria to plant health and productivity has accumulated rapidly in the last years. However, key questions related to what drives plant bacteriomes remain unanswered, among which is the impact of climate zones on plant-associated microbiota. This is particularly true for wild plants in arcto-alpine biomes. Here, we hypothesized that the bacterial communities associated with pioneer plants in these regions have major roles in plant health support, and this is reflected in the formation of climate and host plant specific endophytic communities. We thus compared the bacteriomes associated with the native perennial plants Oxyria digyna and Saxifraga oppositifolia in three arcto-alpine regions (alpine, low Arctic and high Arctic) with those in the corresponding bulk soils. As expected, the bulk soil bacterial communities in the three regions were significantly different. The relative abundances of Proteobacteria decreased progressively from the alpine to the high-arctic soils, whereas those of Actinobacteria increased. The candidate division AD3 and Acidobacteria abounded in the low Arctic soils. Furthermore, plant species and geographic region were the major determinants of the structures of the endophere communities. The plants in the alpine region had higher relative abundances of Proteobacteria, while plants from the low- and high- arctic regions were dominated by Firmicutes. A highly-conserved shared set of ubiquitous bacterial taxa (core bacteriome) was found to occur in the two plant species. Burkholderiales, Actinomycetales and Rhizobiales were the main taxa in this core, and they were also the main contributors to the differences in the endosphere bacterial community structures across compartments as well as regions. We postulate that the composition of this core is driven by selection by the two plants.peerReviewe

A biobased, bioactive, low CO\u2082 impact coating for soil improvers

Lignosulfonate-based bioactive coatings as soil improvers for lawns were developed using laccase as a biocatalyst. Incorporation of glycerol, xylitol and sorbitol as plasticizers considerably reduced the brittleness of the synthesized coatings of marine carbonate granules while thermal enzyme inactivation at 100 °C enabled the production of stable coatings. Heat inactivation produced stable coatings with a molecular weight of 2000 kDa and a viscosity of 4.5 × 10−3 Pas. The desired plasticity for the spray coating of soil improver granules was achieved by the addition of 2.7% of xylitol. Agriculture beneficial microorganisms (four different Bacillus species) were integrated into the coatings. The stable coatings protected the marine calcium carbonate granules, maintained the viability of the microorganisms and showed no toxic effects on the germination and growth of model plants including corn, wheat, salad, and tomato despite a slight delay in germination. Moreover, the coatings reduced the dust formation of soil improvers by 70%. CO2 emission analysis showed potential for the reduction of up to 3.4 kg CO2-eq. kg−1 product, making it a viable alternative to fossil-based coatings.This work was supported by the NÖ Forschungs- und Bildungsges.m.b.H. [grant number SC17-007]. The SUFERT project has received funding from the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) under grant agreement No. 792021. The BBI-JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio-Based Industries Consortium