Setaria seed endophytic bacterial microbiota. plant metagenome

The major objective of this study was to test the role of bacteria associated with seeds for early plant growth and vitality. Our hypothesis is that seed microbiota are important for plant development, and thus the off-spring plants emerging from seeds harboring a microbial community with limited diversity are expected to have deficiencies and loose certain characteristics such as germination capacity. To test our hypothesis, we used Setaria viridis L. as a model plant and we harvested seeds of plants grown in a substrate with reduced microbial complexity for three consecutive generations and further assessed the bacterial community composition in seeds as well as seed germination and plant growth characteristics.