Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses

Abstract Background Root-associated microbiomes are crucial for assisting host and parasitic plants cope with environmental stress. However, little research exists on bacterial community characteristics of parasites and hosts under different parasitic statuses. In this study, we used Cistanche tubul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Luyao Tang, Xiaoshan Liu, Shuhong Lin, Le Zhan, Yehua Chen, Yanan Han, Lei Wang, Jinchang Liang, Zhong Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:Environmental Microbiome
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-00746-x
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849238477082722304
author Luyao Tang
Xiaoshan Liu
Shuhong Lin
Le Zhan
Yehua Chen
Yanan Han
Lei Wang
Jinchang Liang
Zhong Zhang
author_facet Luyao Tang
Xiaoshan Liu
Shuhong Lin
Le Zhan
Yehua Chen
Yanan Han
Lei Wang
Jinchang Liang
Zhong Zhang
author_sort Luyao Tang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Root-associated microbiomes are crucial for assisting host and parasitic plants cope with environmental stress. However, little research exists on bacterial community characteristics of parasites and hosts under different parasitic statuses. In this study, we used Cistanche tubulosa and Tamarix chinensis as parasitic and host plant models, respectively, and aimed to determine the assembly mechanisms and role in assisting plants in salt stress tolerance of root-associated bacterial communities. Results The different parasitic statuses are closely related to the variations in bacterial communication and community assembly mechanisms between the host and parasitic plants. The percentages of potential microbiota sourced from the parasite to the host (44.83% and 83.50%) were greater than those from the host to the parasite (17.50% and 54.67%) in the re-parasitism and flowering stages, illustrating that parasites play a dominant role in shaping the host root microbiota. In addition, the host has a more complex and robust root microbiota co-occurrence network than the parasite does, whereas the KEGG results revealed that the predicted bacterial communities of the parasite-associated microbiota contain more genes in plant growth promotion, salt‒alkali stress resistance, and substance metabolism. Moreover, the salinity, NH4 +, and total potassium were significantly correlated with the bacterial community distributions of the two plants. Conclusion Our results indicate that parasitic status significantly affects the distribution of root bacterial communities, bacterial transfer, and material metabolism of the two plants at different parasitic statuses, reflecting the adaptive mechanisms of plants and bacteria under parasitic relationships and providing ideas for the utilization of saline-alkaline land.
format Article
id doaj-art-a58b13ef16134c4aa91c7ca84938c911
institution Kabale University
issn 2524-6372
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Environmental Microbiome
spelling doaj-art-a58b13ef16134c4aa91c7ca84938c9112025-08-20T04:01:35ZengBMCEnvironmental Microbiome2524-63722025-07-0120111910.1186/s40793-025-00746-xParasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statusesLuyao Tang0Xiaoshan Liu1Shuhong Lin2Le Zhan3Yehua Chen4Yanan Han5Lei Wang6Jinchang Liang7Zhong Zhang8School of Pharmacy, Shandong Second Medical UniversityShandong Universities Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis of Major Diseases and Biopharmaceutical Prevention, Shandong Key Laboratory of Proteins and Peptides Pharmaceutical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center for High-quality Development of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in the Yellow River Basin of Colleges and Universities in Shandong Province, School of Bioscience and Technology, School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical UniversitySchool of Pharmacy, Shandong Second Medical UniversitySchool of Pharmacy, Shandong Second Medical UniversityAgricultural Science Research Institute of the 12th Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction CorpsShandong Universities Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis of Major Diseases and Biopharmaceutical Prevention, Shandong Key Laboratory of Proteins and Peptides Pharmaceutical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center for High-quality Development of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in the Yellow River Basin of Colleges and Universities in Shandong Province, School of Bioscience and Technology, School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical UniversityAgricultural Science Research Institute of the 12th Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction CorpsKey Laboratory of Tobacco Pest Monitoring & Integrated Management, Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesShandong Universities Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis of Major Diseases and Biopharmaceutical Prevention, Shandong Key Laboratory of Proteins and Peptides Pharmaceutical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center for High-quality Development of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in the Yellow River Basin of Colleges and Universities in Shandong Province, School of Bioscience and Technology, School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical UniversityAbstract Background Root-associated microbiomes are crucial for assisting host and parasitic plants cope with environmental stress. However, little research exists on bacterial community characteristics of parasites and hosts under different parasitic statuses. In this study, we used Cistanche tubulosa and Tamarix chinensis as parasitic and host plant models, respectively, and aimed to determine the assembly mechanisms and role in assisting plants in salt stress tolerance of root-associated bacterial communities. Results The different parasitic statuses are closely related to the variations in bacterial communication and community assembly mechanisms between the host and parasitic plants. The percentages of potential microbiota sourced from the parasite to the host (44.83% and 83.50%) were greater than those from the host to the parasite (17.50% and 54.67%) in the re-parasitism and flowering stages, illustrating that parasites play a dominant role in shaping the host root microbiota. In addition, the host has a more complex and robust root microbiota co-occurrence network than the parasite does, whereas the KEGG results revealed that the predicted bacterial communities of the parasite-associated microbiota contain more genes in plant growth promotion, salt‒alkali stress resistance, and substance metabolism. Moreover, the salinity, NH4 +, and total potassium were significantly correlated with the bacterial community distributions of the two plants. Conclusion Our results indicate that parasitic status significantly affects the distribution of root bacterial communities, bacterial transfer, and material metabolism of the two plants at different parasitic statuses, reflecting the adaptive mechanisms of plants and bacteria under parasitic relationships and providing ideas for the utilization of saline-alkaline land.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-00746-xRoot-associated microbiomesCommunity assemblyParasitic statusesSalt stressCistanche tubulosaTamarix chinensis
spellingShingle Luyao Tang
Xiaoshan Liu
Shuhong Lin
Le Zhan
Yehua Chen
Yanan Han
Lei Wang
Jinchang Liang
Zhong Zhang
Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
Environmental Microbiome
Root-associated microbiomes
Community assembly
Parasitic statuses
Salt stress
Cistanche tubulosa
Tamarix chinensis
title Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
title_full Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
title_fullStr Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
title_full_unstemmed Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
title_short Parasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt-tolerant host Tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
title_sort parasitic plant cistanche tubulosa shapes the bacterial community structure and functional composition of the salt tolerant host tamarix chinensis across different parasitic statuses
topic Root-associated microbiomes
Community assembly
Parasitic statuses
Salt stress
Cistanche tubulosa
Tamarix chinensis
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-00746-x
work_keys_str_mv AT luyaotang parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT xiaoshanliu parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT shuhonglin parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT lezhan parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT yehuachen parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT yananhan parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT leiwang parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT jinchangliang parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses
AT zhongzhang parasiticplantcistanchetubulosashapesthebacterialcommunitystructureandfunctionalcompositionofthesalttoleranthosttamarixchinensisacrossdifferentparasiticstatuses