SRA

Perturbations in the abiotic stress directly or indirectly affect plants and root-associated microbial communities. Shade stress presents one of the major abiotic limitations for turfgrass growth, due to light availability is severely reduced underneath a leaf canopy. Numerous studies have shown that shade stress influences plant growth and altered plant physiological metabolism, yet little is known about how it affect rhizosphere soil microbial community structure. Here we report the first comprehensive investigation of the physiological and rhizosphere soil microbial response induced by shade stress in two contrasting shade-tolerant turfgrass genotypes, dwarf lilyturf (Ophiopogon japonicus, OJ) and perennial turf-type ryegrasss (Lolium perenne, LP). Our physiochemical data revealed that maintenance of higher photosynthetic capacity and root growth exposed to shade stress in OJ could be attributed to more shade-tolerant compared with LP. Illumina sequencing data showed that shade stress had little impact on bacterial richness and diversity for soil communities in both OJ and LP, but significantly influenced bacterial communities composition. The bacterial communities were predominantly composed of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria in OJ soil. Pairwise fitting analysis showed that a positive correlation of shade-tolerance and bacterial community composition. Several soil properties (NO3--N, NH4+-N, AK) showed a tight coupling with several major bacterial community under shade stress, indicating that they are important drivers determining bacterial community structures. Moreover, OJ shared core bacterial taxa known to promote plant growth and confer tolerance to abiotic stress, which suggests common principles underpinning OJ-microbe interactions.