RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Functional Genes That Distinguish Maize Phyllosphere Metagenomes in Drought and Well-Watered Conditions
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 104331
DO 10.1101/104331
A1 Barbara A. Methé
A1 Kelvin Li
A1 Stephen P. Talley
A1 Neha Gupta
A1 Bryan Frank
A1 Wenwei Xu
A1 Stuart G. Gordon
A1 Brad Goodner
A1 Ann E. Stapleton
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/01/31/104331.abstract
AB The phyllosphere microbiome consists of the genetic content of the microorganisms that colonize the external aerial portions of plants. Relationships of plant responses to specific microorganisms‐‐both pathogenic and beneficial‐‐have been examined, but responses of the phyllosphere microbiome overall are not well described. Changing crop growth conditions such as increased drought can have profound impacts on crop productivity and epiphytic microbial communities provide a new target for crop yield optimization. We provide the first comparison of Zea mays leaf microbiomes between drought and well-watered conditions. We examined the maize leaf phyllosphere microbiome from three physically disparate locations with and without drought treatment, through the application of deep sequencing with short sequence read technology. Functional profiles revealed a wide variety of metabolic and regulatory processes including the ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions associated with, and external to the plant and the presence of potential plant growth promoting traits suggesting possible beneficial plant-microbiome interactions. Both specific field site and drought affected taxonomic and functional composition of these leaf epiphyte communities.