Community structure and diversity of the microbiomes of two microhabitats at the root-soil interface: implications of meta-analysis of the root-zone soil and root endosphere microbial communities in Xiong'an New Area

The diversity of the microbial compositions of the root-zone soil (the rhizosphere-surrounding soil) and root endosphere (all inner root tissues) of Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. and Ginkgo biloba L. were evaluated in Xiong'an New Area using high-throughput sequencing; the influence of the soil edaphic parameters on microbial community compositions was also evaluated. Our results showed that both the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversities of the root endosphere were lower than those of the root-zone soil, but the variation in the endosphere microbial community structure was remarkably higher than that of the root-zone soil. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphate, total potassium, ratio of carbon to nitrogen, and pH significantly explained the alpha-diversity of the bacterial community and that total nitrogen differentially contributed to the alpha-diversity of the fungal community. Variation partitioning analysis showed that plant species had a greater influence on microbial composition variations than did any other soil property, although soil chemical parameters explained more variation when integrated. Together, our results suggest that both plant species and soil chemical parameters played a critical role in shaping the microbial community composition.