Impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on maize rhizosphere microbiome stability under moderate drought conditions

With an alarming increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, unstable weather conditions are significantly impacting agricultural production. Drought stress is one of the frequent consequences of climate change that affects crop growth and yield. Addressing this issue is critical to ensure stable crop productivity under drought conditions. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) establish symbiotic relationships with plants and enhance their resistance to adverse conditions. Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal associations on the rhizosphere microbiome and root transcriptome under drought conditions have not been explored. Here, we investigated the effects of AMF and drought stress on rhizosphere microorganisms and root transcriptome of maize plants grown in chernozem soil. We used high-throughput sequencing data of bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) to identify rhizosphere microorganisms. Transcriptomic data were used to assess gene expression in maize plants under different treatments. Our results show that AMF maintains the composition of maize rhizosphere microorganisms under drought stress. In particular, the bacterial and fungal phyla maintained were Actinomycetes and Ascomycota, respectively. Transcriptomic data indicated that AMF influenced gene expression in maize plants under drought stress. Under drought stress, the expression of SWEET13, CHIT3, and RPL23A was significantly higher in the presence of AMF than it was without AMF inoculation, indicating better sugar transport, reduced malondialdehyde accumulation, and improved water use efficiency in AMF-inoculated maize plants. These findings suggest that AMF can enhance the resistance of maize to moderate drought stress by stabilising plant physical traits, which may help maintain the structure of the rhizosphere microbial community. This study provides valuable theoretical insights that should aid the utilization of AMF in sustainable agricultural practices.