Changes in Root Bacterial Communities Associated to Two Different Development Stages of Canola Evaluated through Next-Generation Sequencing Technology

Crop production may benefit from plant growth promoting bacteria. The knowledge of the bacterial communities is indispensable in agricultural systems that intend to apply beneficial bacteria to improve plant health and production of crops such as canola. In this work the diversity of root bacterial communities associated to two different developmental phases of canola (B. napus L.) plants was assessed through the application of new generation sequencing technology. Total bacterial DNA was extracted from root samples from two different growth states of canola (rosette and flowering) and from rhizospheric soil at the rosette stage. It could be shown how the bacterial communities inside roots changed with the growing stage of the canola plants. There were differences in the abundance of the genera, family and even the phyla identified for each samples. While in both root samples Proteobacteria was the most common phylum, at the rosette stage the most common bacteria belonged to the family Pseudomonadaceae and the genus Pseudomonas, and in the flowering stage the Xanthomonadaceae family and the genus Xanthomonas dominated the community. This implies a switch in the predominant bacteria in the different developmental stages of the plant, suggesting that the plant itself interferes with the associated microbial community.