Teakle, G. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2022

Crop management shapes the diversity and activity of DNA and RNA viruses in the rhizosphere

BackgroundThe rhizosphere is a hotspot for microbial activity and contributes to ecosystem services including plant health and biogeochemical cycling. The activity of microbial viruses, and their influence on plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere, remains undetermined. Given the impact of viruses on the ecology and evolution of their host communities, determining how soil viruses influence microbiome dynamics is crucial to build a holistic understanding of rhizosphere functions. ResultsHere, we aimed to investigate the influence of crop management on the composition and activity of bulk soil, rhizosphere soil, and root viral communities. We combined viromics, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics on soil samples collected from a 3-year crop rotation field trial of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). By recovering 1,059 dsDNA viral populations and 16,541 ssRNA bacteriophage populations, we expanded the number of underexplored Leviviricetes genomes by > 5 times. Through detection of viral activity in metatranscriptomes, we uncovered evidence of "Kill-the-Winner" dynamics, implicating soil bacteriophages in driving bacterial community succession. Moreover, we found the activity of viruses increased with proximity to crop roots and identified that soil viruses may influence plant-microbe interactions through the reprogramming of bacterial host metabolism. We have provided the first evidence of crop rotation-driven impacts on soil microbial communities extending to viruses. To this aim, we present the novel principal of "viral priming", which describes how the consecutive growth of the same crop species primes viral activity in the rhizosphere through local adaptation. ConclusionsOverall, we reveal unprecedented spatial and temporal diversity in viral community composition and activity across root, rhizosphere soil and bulk soil compartments. Our work demonstrates that the roles of soil viruses need greater consideration to exploit the rhizosphere microbiome for food security, food safety, and environmental sustainability.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Importance of parental genome balance in the generation of novel yet heritable epigenetic and transcriptional states during doubled haploid breeding

BackgroundDoubling the genome contribution of haploid plants has accelerated breeding in most cultivated crop species. Although plant doubled haploids are isogenic in nature, they frequently display unpredictable phenotypes, thus limiting the potential of this technology. Therefore, being able to predict the factors implicated in this phenotypic variability could accelerate the generation of desirable genomic combinations and ultimately plant breeding.\n\nResultsWe use computational analysis to assess the transcriptional and epigenetic dynamics taking place during doubled haploids generation in the genome of Brassica oleracea. We observe that doubled haploid lines display unexpected levels of transcriptional and epigenetic variation, and that this variation is largely due to imbalanced contribution of parental genomes. We reveal that epigenetic modification of transposon-related sequences during DH breeding contributes to the generation of unpredictable yet heritable transcriptional states. Targeted epigenetic manipulation of these elements using dCas9-hsTET3 confirms their role in transcriptional regulation. We have uncovered a hitherto unknown role for parental genome balance in the transcriptional and epigenetic stability of doubled haploids.\n\nConclusionsThis is the first study that demonstrates the importance of parental genome balance in the transcriptional and epigenetic stability of doubled haploids, thus enabling predictive models to improve doubled haploid-assisted plant breeding.

plant biology↗