Evolutive history of Poaceae and relationship with bacterial community in the rhizosphere

Since the emergence of life on earth, the selection pressures related to biotic and abiotic interactions generated a high diversity of life forms. Thus, each eukaryotic species co-evolved with its associated microbial community. In the case of plants, genetic diversity is reflected in many phenotypic traits (exudation of carbon substrates, root architecture, soil density, aeration, acidification, etc.), and may influence interactions with soil microbial populations and hence the composition and functioning of the rhizosphere microbial community. Our hypothesis is that the differences between rhizosphere bacterial communities are proportional to evolutionary distances between plants partners. The objective of this thesis was to determine the importance, in the case of Poaceae and in particular of maize, of the evolutionary history of plant in the selection of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere. Analyses performed using a 16S taxonomic microarray indicated that the composition of the rhizobacterial community depends on the genetic group of maize but is not linked to microsatellite diversity of maize. Conversely, across the Poaceae, a correlation was found between plant phylogeny and the composition of the bacterial community (and the prevalence of specific bacterial taxa). This correlation was not significant when the study was limited to the size, the level of transcription or nifH diversity of the functional group of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In conclusion, the evolutionary history of the plant partner across the Poaceae (but not maize) is a factor conditioning interactions with bacterial taxonomic groups (but not necessarily functional groups) in the rhizosphere