AI Insight
Researchers used metagenomic sequencing to examine how different concentrations of pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), a plant growth-promoting compound, affect the microbial communities in tobacco plant rhizospheres. The study found that PQQ altered the rhizosphere microbiome in a dose-dependent but non-linear manner, with the most significant changes occurring at 1 μmol/L concentration, where beneficial bacterial genera like Streptomyces and Sphingomonas increased along with functions related to biosynthesis and energy metabolism. PQQ treatment did not act as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and did not significantly increase antibiotic resistance genes in the soil microbiome.
Why it matters
This research provides important insights for agricultural applications, particularly for managing soil health in continuous cropping systems where soil microbiome depletion is problematic. Understanding optimal PQQ concentrations for beneficial microbiome modulation could help develop more effective and sustainable approaches to enhance crop productivity without promoting antibiotic resistance.
⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is known to promote plant growth, yet how the rhizosphere microbiome varies with PQQ concentration remains poorly understood. We applied metagenomic sequencing to characterize the taxonomic composition and functional potential of the tobacco rhizosphere microbiome across PQQ treatments at 0.5, 1 and 2 mol/L plus an untreated control. The rhizosphere microbiome was dominated by Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota and differed among treatments in a concentration-associated, non-monotonic manner. The most pronounced differences were observed at 1 mol/L, where alpha diversity showed dimension-specific variation and beta-diversity analysis resolved the most distinct community profile. Taxonomic and functional profiles varied concurrently, with Streptomyces, Sphingomonas, Rhodanobacter and Lysobacter, together with functions related to biosynthesis, energy metabolism, colonization and environmental sensing, showing higher relative abundance at this concentration. No broad-spectrum antimicrobial effect was detected at the community level, and antibiotic resistance gene abundance showed no significant differences among treatments after correction for multiple testing. These findings provide a basis for further evaluation of PQQ in modulating the rhizosphere microbiome in continuous cropping systems.