Differences in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Soils of Three Land Use Types in Subtropical Hilly Area of Southern China

<div><p>Land use type is key factor in restoring the degraded soils due to its impact on soil chemical properties and microbial community. In this study, the influences of land use type on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) community and soil chemical properties were assessed in a long-run experimental station in subtropical hilly area of southern China. Soil samples were collected from forest land, orchard and vegetable field. Soil chemical properties were analyzed, and PCR-DGGE was performed to explore the AMF community structure. Cloning and sequencing of DGGE bands were conducted to monitor AMF community composition. Results indicate that the contents of total P, available P and available K were the highest while the contents of soil organic matter, total N, total K and available N were the lowest in vegetable field soils, with forest land soils <i>vice versa</i>. According to DGGE profiling, AMF community in forest soils was more closely related to that in orchard soils than that in vegetable field soils. Sequencing indicated that 45 out of 53 excised bands were AMF and 64.4% of AMF belonged to Glomeraceae, including some “generalists” present in all soils and some “specialists” present only in soils of particular land use. Category principle component analysis demonstrated that total N, soil organic matter and available P were the most important factors affecting AMF community, and some AMF phylotypes were closely associated with particular soil chemical properties. Our data suggest that AMF communities are different with different land use types.</p></div

Principle component analysis (PCA) (A) and cluster analysis (CA) (B) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) community in soils of different land use types based on DGGE profiles of fungal 18S rDNA fragments.

<p>Squares, triangles and circles indicate forest land soils, orchard soils and vegetable field soils, respectively. Four replicate soils of each land use type were grouped using circles.</p

Phylogenetic tree of AMF species in the investigated soils based on the fungal 18S rDNA fragments.

<p>All the named species as reference sequences appear with the scientific names of recent taxonomy (<a href="http://schuessler.userweb.mwn.de/amphylo/" target="_blank">http://schuessler.userweb.mwn.de/amphylo/</a>).</p

Principle component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) of soils of different land use types based on the soil chemical properties.

<p>(A) PCA. (B) CA. Squares, triangles and circles indicate forest land soils, orchard soils and vegetable field soils, respectively. Four replicate soils of each land use type were grouped using circles.</p

Category principle component analysis (Cat-PCA) biplot.

<p>The relationship between soils of different land use types (squares) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) phylotypes (solid circles), soil chemical properties (solid circles with red arrows) are encompassed. For fungal phylotype, 1 and 0 were used to represent presence and absence of particular species in each soil sample according to DGGE profiles. Four replicate soils of each land use type were grouped using dash-lined circles. B<i>n</i> (<i>n</i> = 1~66) indicates AMF phylotype corresponding to DGGE band as shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0130983#pone.0130983.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>.</p

DGGE profiles and their corresponding patterns of 18S rDNA fragments of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) community in soils of different land use types.

<p>(A) DGGE profiles of AMF community. (B) DGGE patterns of AMF community. A total of 66 bands were detected using Quantity One software.</p

Chemical properties of soils as influenced by different land use types.

<p>Data are presented as average ± s.e. Data followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 5% level (Duncan’s multiple range test) for each soil chemical property.</p><p>Chemical properties of soils as influenced by different land use types.</p

Sequences of primer sets used in this study.

<p>Sequences of primer sets used in this study.</p