The rhizosphere is the hotspot for microbial enzyme activities and contributes to carbon cycling. Precipitation is an important component of global climate change that can profoundly alter belowground microbial communities. However, the impact of precipitation on conifer rhizospheric microbial populations has not been investigated in detail. In the present study, using high-throughput amplicon sequencing, we investigated the impact of precipitation on the rhizospheric soil microbial communities in two Norway Spruce clonal seed orchards, Lipová Lhota (L-site) and Prenet (P-site). P-site has received nearly double the precipitation than L-site for the last three decades. P-site documented higher soil water content with a significantly higher abundance of Aluminium (Al), Iron (Fe), Phosphorous (P), and Sulphur (S) than L-site. Rhizospheric soil metabolite profiling revealed an increased abundance of acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and alcohols in P-site. There was variance in the relative abundance of distinct microbiomes between the sites. A higher abundance of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteriota, Ascomycota, and Mortiellomycota was observed in P-site receiving high precipitation, while Bacteroidota, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadota, and Basidiomycota were prevalent in L-site. The higher clustering coefficient of the microbial network in P-site suggested that the microbial community structure is highly interconnected and tends to cluster closely. The current study unveils the impact of precipitation variations on the spruce rhizospheric microbial association and opens new avenues for understanding the impact of global change on conifer rizospheric microbial associations.

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) is common in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and it is associated with poor prognosis. However, no biomarker reflecting RVD is available for routine clinical use. METHODS: Proteomic analysis of myocardium from the left ventricle and right ventricle (RV) of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction with (n=10) and without RVD (n=10) who underwent heart transplantation was performed. Concentrations of 2 ECM (extracellular matrix) proteins with the highest myocardial upregulation in RVD, FMOD (fibromodulin) and FBLN5 (fibulin-5), were assayed in the blood and tested in a separate cohort of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (n=232) to test for the association of the 2 proteins with RV function and long-term outcomes. RESULTS: Multivariable linear regression revealed that plasma concentrations of both FMOD and FBLN5 were significantly associated with RV function regardless of the RV function assessment method. No association of FMOD or FBLN5 with left ventricular dysfunction, cardiac index, body mass index, diabetes status, or kidney function was found. Plasma levels of FMOD and FBLN5 were significantly associated with patient outcomes ( P =0.005; P =0.004). Area under the curve analysis showed that the addition of FBLN5 or FMOD to RV function assessment had a significantly higher area under the curve after 4 years of follow-up (0.653 and 0.631, respectively) compared with RV function alone (0.570; P 64 ng/mL and FMOD >27 ng/mL) had a worse prognosis than those with the elevation of either FBLN5 or FMOD ( P =0.03) demonstrating the additive prognostic value of both proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Our study proposes that circulating levels of FMOD and FBLN5 may serve as new biomarkers of RVD in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

BACKGROUND Right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) is a commonly accompanying condition in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), and is associated with poor prognosis. However, no specific biomarker of RVD is available for clinical routine. METHODS We performed a label-free proteomic analysis of myocardium from the left and right ventricles of HFrEF patients with and without RVD who underwent heart transplantation (n=20). Concentrations of two extracellular matrix proteins with highest myocardial upregulation in RVD – fibromodulin (FMOD) and fibulin-5 (FBLN5) - were assayed in the blood, compared to controls (n=65) and tested in separate large cohort of HFrEF patients (n=232) to test association of the two proteins with RV function and long-term outcome. RESULTS FMOD and FBLN5 plasma concentrations progressively increased with worsening RV function (p = 0.0001 and 0.004), while there was no association with LV dysfunction, BMI or kidney function. In survival analysis, plasma levels of both FMOD and FBLN5 were significantly associated with patient outcome (p = 0.005 and 0.0004). Using reclassification analysis, addition of plasma FBLN5 to right ventricle function assessment led to an improvement in AUC after 4 years compared to RV function assessment only. Similarly, adding plasma fibromodulin to the multi-parametric MAGGIC score showed a significantly higher AUC after 4 years. Importantly, the prognostic value of both biomarkers was additive. CONCLUSION Our study proposes that circulating levels of FMOD and FBLN5 may serve as a new biomarkers of RVD in HFrEF patients.