Studies

Characterization of bacterial and fungal communities in switchgrass rhizosphere

The extent to which distinct bacterial endophyte communities occur between different plant organs and species is unclear, and has implications for bioprospecting efforts. Using V3 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene, we investigated the diversity patterns in total, uncultured bacterial endophyte communities of three rainforest plant species, comparing leaf, stem, and root endophytes, plus rhizosphere soil community employing MiSeq. There was extensive overlap in bacterial communities between plant ...

Secondary metabolites like pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) act as defense compounds against aboveground and belowground attackers. We studied to get a better understanding of relevance of microbial diversity in the rhizosphere for plant growth and behavior, specifically related to secondary metabolites production. We made soil dilution to compare the composition of soil microbial communities of soil suspension, incubation and rhizosphere soil by 16s rRNA high throughput pyrosequencing, as a ...

The rhizosphere microbiome is important for plant growth and health, contributing to nutrient acquisition and (a)biotic stress tolerance. Rhizosphere microbiome composition is shaped in part by the plant genotype, but the underlying genetic basis is largely unknown. Going back to the roots, we investigated how plant domestication affected rhizosphere microbiome assembly of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), a key food crop worldwide. DArT genotyping and plant phenotyping showed substantial genetic ...

Characterization of the bacterial communities associated with the rhizosphere and soils surrounding Arabidopsis and Brachypodium

Experimental design# The following sequence data was used as part of a DOE funded project to explore the relationship between drought and microbial recruitment in Sorghum bicolor. For detailed descriptions of experimental design, please see the associated publication. In brief, we planted two different sorghum cultivars (RTx430 and BTx642) within a randomized block design that accounted for treatments, genotypes and replication, with three replicate blocks in total. From this field experiment,

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Plants interact closely with microbes, which are partly responsible for plant growth, health and adaptation to stressful environments. Engineering the plant-associated microbiome could improve plants survival and performance in stressful environments such as contaminated soils. Here, willow cuttings were planted into highly petroleum-contaminated soils that had been gamma-irradiated and subjected to one of four treatments: inoculation with rhizosphere soil from a willow that grew well (LA) or ...