A hyphal release-capture soil microcosm for recovering hyphosphere bacterial communities.
A soil-mimetic microcosm reveals that fungal hyphae selectively recruit a significantly reduced and distinct bacterial community, with an 87% decline in genus richness compared to bulk soil.
- Why it matters: Understanding hyphosphere bacterial communities is crucial because fungi shape microhabitats that influence soil health and plant interactions, yet experimental access under realistic conditions has been limited.
- What they did: The study developed a controlled hyphal release-and-capture microcosm incorporating soil, microbes, and plants, using Fusarium oxysporum as a model to recover and analyze hyphosphere bacterial communities through full-length 16S rRNA profiling.
- The result: Findings demonstrate that hyphae recruit a specialized, compositionally distinct bacterial subset, enabling detailed investigation of fungal-bacterial interactions and community assembly in ecologically relevant soil environments.