PLANT CHEMICAL DIVERSITY MODULATED BY ROOT MICROBIOME

Plant exudates comprise a bouquet of low-molecular-weight molecules belonging to different chemical classes. Exudates are secreted into the rhizosphere as a gradient dictated by their solubility and stability. Our major aim is to unravel the metabolite composition of tomato exudates of plants exposed to different rhizosphere microbial communities, i.e. presenting different diversity levels. Tomato plants grown in the sterile conditions were used as control. Roots, shoots and exudates were collected, concentrated and analyzed with high resolution LCMS system: UPLC, equipped with C18 column, connected to qTOF MS. We have found 116 differential metabolites in shoots, 58 in roots and 117 in exudates. Differential compounds belonged to diverse classes of secondary metabolites such as acylsugars, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolics. The metabolic patterns of tomato shoots and roots, as well as root exudates are tailored by soil microbial diversity and composition. The metabolic changes of host plants in response to soil microbial diversity might also affect the rhizosphere microbial ecology.