In this study, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was used to determine the amount of Fusarium oxysporum, an important replant disease pathogen in Pseudostellaria heterophylla rhizospheric soil. Moreover, HPLC was used to identify phenolic acids in root exudates then it was further to explore the effects of the phenolic acid allelochemicals on the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. heterophylla. The amount of F. oxysporum increased significantly in P. heterophylla rhizosphere soil under a consecutive replant system as monitored through qPCR analysis. Furthermore, the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. heterophylla mycelium was enhanced by root exudates with a maximum increase of 23.8%. In addition, the number of spores increased to a maximum of 12.5-fold. Some phenolic acids promoted the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. heterophylla mycelium and spore production. Our study revealed that phenolic acids in the root secretion of P. heterophylla increased long with its development, which was closely related to changes in rhizospheric microorganisms. The population of pathogenic microorganisms such as F. oxysporum in the rhizosphere soil of P. heterophylla also sharply increased. Our results on plant-microbe communication will help to better clarify the cause of problems associated with P. heterophylla under consecutive monoculture treatment.

Consecutive monoculture of crops causes serious diseases and significant decline in yield and quality, and microbes in the rhizosphere are closely linked with plant health. Here we systematically studied the structure dynamics of soil microbiota in the monocropping system of Pseudostellaria heterophlla. The results illustrated that the successive cropping of P. heterophylla shifts the diversity and structure of microbial community in rhizosphere soil of P. heterophylla, showing that the diversity of microbial community in rhizosphere soil of P. heterophylla was decreased with the increase of planting years while the structure of microbial community became more deteriorative. Moreover, the population size of typical pathogens increased and the beneficial bacterial population decreased with the increasing years of monoculture, which resulted in the microecological imbalance in P. heterophylla rhizosphere, thereby caused serious replanting diseases in monocropping system. Our results suggested that structure dynamics of rhizosphere microbial communities were mediated by the richness of replanted P. heterophylla, and thus the replant disease result from the imbalanced microbial structure with a higher ratio of pathogens/beneficial bacteria in rhizosphere soil under monocropping regimes. This finding provides a clue to open a new avenue for modulating the root microbiome to enhance the crop production and sustainability.

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The radical SAM tryptophan (Trp) lyase NosL involved in nosiheptide biosynthesis catalyzes two parallel reactions, converting l-Trp to 3-methyl-2-indolic acid (MIA) and to dehydroglycine and 3-methylindole, respectively. The two parallel reactions diverge from a nitrogen-centered tryptophanyl radical intermediate. Here we report an investigation on the intrinsic reactivity of the tryptophanyl radical using a chemical model study and DFT calculations. The kinetics of the formation and fragmentation of this nitrogen-centered radical in NosL catalysis were also studied in detail. Our analysis explains the intriguing catalytic promiscuity of NosL and highlights the remarkable role this enzyme plays in achieving an energetically highly unfavorable transformation.