A Hungarian survey of Tokaj-Mád vineyards was conducted. Shotgun metabarcoding was
applied to decipher the microbial-terroir. The results of 60 soil samples showed that
there were three dominant fungal phyla, Ascomycota 66.36% ± 15.26%, Basidiomycota
18.78% ± 14.90%, Mucoromycota 11.89% ± 8.99%, representing 97% of operational taxonomic
units (OTUs). Mutual interactions between microbiota diversity and soil physicochemical
parameters were revealed. Principal component analysis showed descriptive clustering
patterns of microbial taxonomy and resistance gene profiles in the case of the four
historic vineyards (Szent Tamás, Király, Betsek, Nyúlászó). Linear discriminant analysis
effect size was performed, revealing pronounced shifts in community taxonomy based
on soil physicochemical properties. Twelve clades exhibited the most significant shifts
(LDA > 4.0), including the phyla Verrucomicrobia , Bacteroidetes , Chloroflexi , and
Rokubacteria , the classes Acidobacteria , Deltaproteobacteria , Gemmatimonadetes
, and Betaproteobacteria , the order Sphingomonadales , Hypomicrobiales , as well
as the family Sphingomonadaceae and the genus Sphingomonas . Three out of the four
historic vineyards exhibited the highest occurrences of the bacterial genus Bradyrhizobium
, known for its positive influence on plant development and physiology through the
secretion of steroid phytohormones. During ripening, the taxonomical composition of
the soil fungal microbiota clustered into distinct groups depending on altitude, differences
that were not reflected in bacteriomes. Network analyses were performed to unravel
changes in fungal interactiomes when comparing postveraison and preharvest samples.
In addition to the arbuscular mycorrhiza Glomeraceae , the families Mycosphaerellacae
and Rhyzopodaceae and the class Agaricomycetes were found to have important roles
in maintaining soil microbial community resilience. Functional metagenomics showed
that the soil Na content stimulated several of the microbiota-related agrobiogeochemical
cycles, such as nitrogen and sulphur metabolism; steroid, bisphenol, toluene, dioxin
and atrazine degradation and the synthesis of folate.