Influence of plant host species on the root associated microbial community and functional redundancy of the root microbiome under phosphate starvation
T. MUCYN (1), S. Yourstone (1), S. Paredes (1), H. Cameron (2), G. Castrillo (1), N. Breakfield (3), J. Dangl (1) (1) University of North Carolina, U.S.A.; (2) BASF corporation, U.S.A.; (3) NewLeaf Symbiotics, U.S.A.

Plants harbor a specific and complex microbiota at the surface of the root (rhizosphere) and within the root (endophytic compartment) which influences plant health and productivity. Various factors such as soil type, abiotic/biotic stress, host developmental stage, and host species shape the root microbiome. The extent to which the host selects its root microbial community remains poorly understood. To determine the influence of plant host species on the assembling of the root microbiome, we are comparing the well-studied bacterial root microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana, with those of two monocot species Brachypodium distachyon and Setaria viridis from plants grown in the same wild soil, using high-throughput bacterial 16S rDNA, as well as fungal ITS2 profiling. We are characterizing both core and species-specific root microbiomes and are exploring the hypothesis that plants more closely related to each other share more similar microbial communities. The Dangl laboratory has isolated ~600 bacterial strains from the rhizoplane and endophytic compartments of Arabidopsis thaliana and is evaluating the effect of these isolates on plant health under various nutrient starvation stresses. This bacterial collection is currently being tested on Setaria viridis focusing on the identification of isolates that rescue phosphate starvation stress to establish to whether the bacterial core microbiome may also present functional conservation across species. 

Abstract Number: P4-110
Session Type: Poster