Methodological Aspects of Multiplex Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism-Technique to Describe the Genetic Diversity of Soil Bacteria, Archaea and Fungi

Molecular Markers: An Overview of Data Published for Fungi over the Last Ten Years

Fungi are amongst the most abundant and diverse organisms. Despite being widely known for their adverse role in food spoilage or as pathogens for humans, animals, or plants, they also present several beneficial effects. Fungi contribute to human well-being due to their role as decomposers, degrading decay matter into smaller molecules which can be easily used by other ecosystem members. These organisms can produce medicinal compounds or modulate protective immune responses in human intestine. Fungi intervene in diverse food processes or act as a food supply. Due to fungal diversity, the unequivocal identification of these organisms is crucial to increasing their practical applications and decreasing their adverse effects. The process of identification could be achieved through the integral sequencing of fungi genomes. However, this procedure would be time-consuming and rather cost-inefficient. Therefore, several molecular markers have been developed to overcome these limitations. The chronology of DNA-based molecular markers development can be divided into three main steps: (1) prior to the development of the PCR technique (RFLP); (2) after the development of the PCR technique (RAPD, AFLP, ISSR, VNTR, SNP, InDels, and DNA barcoding); (3) after the development of the massive parallel sequencing technique (Metabarcoding and WGS). Therefore, the present review covers an overview of the most recently developed molecular markers used for fungal detection and identification.

High-throughput molecular technologies for unraveling the mystery of soil microbial community: challenges and future prospects

Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in soil fertility, sustainability, and plant health. However, intensive agriculture with increasing chemical inputs and changing environments have influenced native soil microbial communities. Approaches have been developed to study the structure, diversity, and activity of soil microbes to better understand the biology and plant-microbe interactions in soils. Unfortunately, a good understanding of soil microbial community remains a challenge due to the complexity of community composition, interactions of the soil environment, and limitations of technologies, especially related to the functionality of some taxa rarely detected using conventional techniques. Culture-based methods have been shown unable and sometimes are biased for assessing soil microbial communities. To gain further knowledge, culture-independent methods relying on direct analysis of nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids are worth exploring. In recent years, metagenomics, metaproteomics, metatranscriptomics, and proteogenomics have been increasingly used in studying microbial ecology. In this review, we examined the importance of microbial community to soil quality, the mystery of rhizosphere and plant-microbe interactions, and the biodiversity and multi-trophic interactions that influence the soil structure and functionality. The impact of the cropping system and climate change on the soil microbial community was also explored. Importantly, progresses in molecular biology, especially in the development of high-throughput biotechnological tools, were extensively assessed for potential uses to decipher the diversity and dynamics of soil microbial communities, with the highlighted advantages/limitations.

The Status of Soil Microbiome as Affected by the Application of Phosphorus Biofertilizer: Fertilizer Enriched with Beneficial Bacterial Strains

Regarding the unfavourable changes in agroecosystems resulting from the excessive application of mineral fertilizers, biopreparations containing live microorganisms are gaining increasing attention. We assumed that the application of phosphorus mineral fertilizer enriched with strains of beneficial microorganisms contribute to favourable changes in enzymatic activity and in the genetic and functional diversity of microbial populations inhabiting degraded soils. Therefore, in field experiments conditions, the effects of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with bacterial strains on the status of soil microbiome in two chemically degraded soil types (Brunic Arenosol - BA and Abruptic Luvisol - AL) were investigated. The field experiments included treatments with an optimal dose of phosphorus fertilizer (without microorganisms - FC), optimal dose of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with microorganisms including Paenibacillus polymyxa strain CHT114AB, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain AF75BB and Bacillus sp. strain CZP4/4 (FA100) and a dose of phosphorus fertilizer reduced by 40% and enriched with the above-mentioned bacteria (FA60). The analyzes performed included: the determination of the activity of the soil enzymes (protease, urease, acid phosphomonoesterase, β-glucosidase), the assessment of the functional diversity of microorganisms with the application of BIOLOGTM plates and the characterization of the genetic diversity of bacteria, archaea and fungi with multiplex terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and next generation sequencing. The obtained results indicated that the application of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with microorganisms improved enzymatic activity, and the genetic and functional diversity of the soil microbial communities, however these effects were dependent on the soil type.