Parasitism by Cuscuta australis affects the rhizhospheric soil bacterial communities of Trifolium repens L.

The effect of parasitism on belowground microbial communities is not well understood. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to test the effect of Cuscuta australis parasitism on the composition and diversity of bacterial community in the rhizospheric soil of the host plant Trifolium repens. 94569 sequences were obtained from the amplicons of non-parasitised, and 97172 sequences were obtained from the parasitised rhizospheric soil bacterial community. Parasitism of C. australis significantly decreased the relative abundance of the bacterial phylum Nitrospirae, while it significantly increased that of Verrucomicrobia. Parasitism of C. australis significantly decreased the relative abundance of 10 bacterial genera, while it significantly increased those of nine genera. The Chao 1 indexes of the rhizospheric soil bacterial community of parasitised T. repens were significantly lower than those of non-parasitised T. repens. Principal coordinate analysis (based on the genus) and principal component analysis (based on the predicted gene function of bacterial communities) showed that rhizospheric bacterial communities from parasitised and non-parasitised T. repens differed and can be divided into two groups. These results suggest that infection of the holoparasitic plant could indirectly change the composition, diversity, and function of rhizospheric soil bacteria of the host plant.