Protist feeding patterns and growth rate are related to their predatory impacts on soil bacterial communities.

Predatory protists are major consumers of soil micro-organisms. By selectively feeding on their prey, they can shape soil microbiome composition and functions. While different protists are known to show diverging impacts, it remains impossible to predict a priori the effect of a given species.

Five Groups in the Genus Allovahlkampfia and the Description of the New Species Vahlkampfia bulbosis n.sp.

Heterolobosea is one of the major protist groups in soils. While an increasing number of soil heterolobosean species has been described, we have likely only scratched the surface of heterolobosean diversity in soils. Here, we expand this knowledge by morphologically and molecularly classifying four novel strains.

Trophic interactions between predatory protists and pathogen-suppressive bacteria impact plant health.

Plant health is strongly impacted by beneficial and pathogenic plant microbes, which are themselves structured by resource inputs. Organic fertilizer inputs may thus offer a means of steering soil-borne microbes, thereby affecting plant health. Concurrently, soil microbes are subject to top-down control by predators, particularly protists.

Protists as main indicators and determinants of plant performance.

Background: Microbiomes play vital roles in plant health and performance, and the development of plant beneficial microbiomes can be steered by organic fertilizer inputs. Especially well-studied are fertilizer-induced changes on bacteria and fungi and how changes in these groups alter plant performance. However, impacts on protist communities, including their trophic interactions within the microbiome and consequences on plant performance remain largely unknown.

Biocontrol Traits Correlate With Resistance to Predation by Protists in Soil Pseudomonads.

Root-colonizing bacteria can support plant growth and help fend off pathogens. It is clear that such bacteria benefit from plant-derived carbon, but it remains ambiguous why they invest in plant-beneficial traits. We suggest that selection via protist predation contributes to recruitment of plant-beneficial traits in rhizosphere bacteria.

Protists: Puppet Masters of the Rhizosphere Microbiome.

The rhizosphere microbiome is a central determinant of plant performance. Microbiome assembly has traditionally been investigated from a bottom-up perspective, assessing how resources such as root exudates drive microbiome assembly. However, the importance of predation as a driver of microbiome structure has to date largely remained overlooked.

3,3'-(2-Oxocyclo-pentane-1,3-di-yl)dipropane-nitrile.

The complete mol-ecule of the title compound, C(11)H(14)N(2)O, is generated by crystallographic twofold symmetry, with the C=O group lying on the rotation axis. In the crystal structure, weak C-H⋯N inter-actions form zigzag chains of mol-ecules.