Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication

Ilenne Del Valle; Tara M. Webster; Hsiao Ying Cheng; Janice E. Thies; André Kessler; Mary Kaitlyn Miller; Zachary T. Ball; Kevin R. MacKenzie; Caroline A. Masiello; Jonathan J. Silberg; Johannes Lehmann

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax8254

Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication

Ilenne Del Valle, Tara M. Webster, Hsiao Ying Cheng, Janice E. Thies, André Kessler, Mary Kaitlyn Miller, Zachary T. Ball, Kevin R. MacKenzie, Caroline A. Masiello, Jonathan J. Silberg, Johannes Lehmann

Synthetic Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

79 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plant-microbe interactions are mediated by signaling compounds that control vital plant functions, such as nodulation, defense, and allelopathy. While interruption of signaling is typically attributed to biological processes, potential abiotic controls remain less studied. Here, we show that higher organic carbon (OC) contents in soils repress flavonoid signals by up to 70%. Furthermore, the magnitude of repression is differentially dependent on the chemical structure of the signaling molecule, the availability of metal ions, and the source of the plant-derived OC. Up to 63% of the signaling repression occurs between dissolved OC and flavonoids rather than through flavonoid sorption to particulate OC. In plant experiments, OC interrupts the signaling between a legume and a nitrogen-fixing microbial symbiont, resulting in a 75% decrease in nodule formation. Our results suggest that soil OC decreases the lifetime of flavonoids underlying plant-microbe interactions.

Original language	English
Article number	eaax8254
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	6
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax8254
State	Published - Jan 29 2020

Funding

We are grateful for financial support from the W. M. Keck Foundation, the Rice University, and the Taiwan Ministry of Education Scholarship. Support for this research was also provided by the NSF-BREAD (IOS-0965336; OPP51589), the Department of Energy (Office of Science; DE-SC0016364), the USDA NIFA Carbon Cycles (2014-67003-22069), the Robert A. Welch Foundation (C-1680), and the NSF (CHE-1609654 and CHE-1904865).

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title = "Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication",

abstract = "Plant-microbe interactions are mediated by signaling compounds that control vital plant functions, such as nodulation, defense, and allelopathy. While interruption of signaling is typically attributed to biological processes, potential abiotic controls remain less studied. Here, we show that higher organic carbon (OC) contents in soils repress flavonoid signals by up to 70%. Furthermore, the magnitude of repression is differentially dependent on the chemical structure of the signaling molecule, the availability of metal ions, and the source of the plant-derived OC. Up to 63% of the signaling repression occurs between dissolved OC and flavonoids rather than through flavonoid sorption to particulate OC. In plant experiments, OC interrupts the signaling between a legume and a nitrogen-fixing microbial symbiont, resulting in a 75% decrease in nodule formation. Our results suggest that soil OC decreases the lifetime of flavonoids underlying plant-microbe interactions.",

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AU - Kessler, André

AU - Miller, Mary Kaitlyn

AU - Ball, Zachary T.

AU - MacKenzie, Kevin R.

AU - Masiello, Caroline A.

AU - Silberg, Jonathan J.

AU - Lehmann, Johannes

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Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication

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