Rhizosphere-associated soil microbiome variability in wilt-affected .

Introduction: wilt is the most devastating soil-borne disease affecting in the progress of urban landscape construction in China.

Methods: To assess the variability of the rhizosphere-associated soil microbiome in response to wilt occurrence, we investigated the microbial diversity, taxonomic composition, biomarker species, and co-occurrence network of the rhizosphere-associated soil in wiltaffected using Illumina sequencing.

Results: The alpha diversity indices of the rhizosphere bacteria in wilt-affected plants showed no significant variability compared with those in healthy plants, except for a moderate increase in the Shannon and Invsimpson indices, while the fungal alpha diversity indices were significantly decreased. The abundance of certain dominant or crucial microbial taxa, such as , , , and , displayed significant variations among different soil samples. The bacterial and fungal community structures exhibited distinct variability, as evidenced by the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrices. Co-occurrence networks unveiled intricate interactions within the microbial community of wilt-affected , with greater edge numbers and higher network density. The phenomenon was more evident in the fungal community, showing increased positive interaction, which may be associated with the aggravation of wilt with the aid of . The proportions of bacteria involved in membrane transport and second metabolite biosynthesis functions were significantly enriched in the diseased rhizosphere soil samples.

Discussion: These findings suggested that healthy harbored an obviously higher abundance of beneficial microbial consortia, such as while wilt-affected plants may recruit antagonistic members such as in response to infection. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the soil micro-ecological mechanism of wilt occurrence, which may be helpful in the prevention and control of the disease in from the microbiome perspective.