Fig. 5: Root-associated microbiomes exhibit increased P-turnover potential in comparison to substrate communities.

A Root exudates both solubilize phosphorus (P) in the plant substrate and recruit microorganisms that consume this nutrient. As the recruited microbes can mobilize phosphorus that would otherwise be unavailable for the plants (in pink), the total bioaccessible phosphorus concentration increases over time. B Mean total abundances (sum of RPKGs) of proteins and pathways involved in processes linked to phosphate turnover (transport, mineralization, and solubilization) in the substrate and root-associated communities. Abundances of multiprotein complexes (pstABCS, phnCDE, ugpABCE, and phnGHIJKLM) were computed by averaging the abundances of their subunits. Vertical lines represent the standard error of the mean. C Phylogenetic regressions of the number of phosphate turnover-related genes. The MAGs retrieved in this study were compared to GTDB genomes to identify differences in the numbers of gene copies associated with phosphorus turnover. The color scale indicates the magnitude of the enrichment (blue) or depletion (red) of each process in the MAGs, and the area of the circles represent the statistical significance of the regression coefficient. Regression coefficients with p value > 0.05 are omitted. Phylogenetic regressions were performed on the whole set of bacterial genomes and on the phyla containing at least 5 MAGs. RX root (external), CR campos rupestres.