Quantitative divergence of the bacterial root microbiota in Arabidopsis thaliana relatives

Plants host at the contact zone with soil a distinctive root-associated bacterial microbiota believed to function in plant nutrition and health. We investigated the diversity of the root microbiota within a phylogenetic framework of hosts: three Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes along with its sister species Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis lyrata, as well as Cardamine hirsuta, which diverged from the former ∼ 35 Mya. We surveyed their microbiota under controlled environmental conditions and of A. thaliana and C. hirsuta in two natural habitats. Deep 16S rRNA gene profiling of root and corresponding soil samples identified a total of 237 quantifiable bacterial ribotypes, of which an average of 73 community…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• UD
  Université de Lille
• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 133544, 136473
• M
  Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• CN
  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique