Rhizospheric bacterial communities of Nicotiana tabacum affected by Ralstonia solanacearum

The following is the first study to examine the relationships between edaphic factors the rhizospheric bacterial community and Ralstonia solanacearum distribution in tobacco fields in the United States using modern DNA based tools. This study suggests that the distribution of the pathogen in the field is associated with bacterial community composition variation driven by soil physicochemical properties. Most importantly this study enhances our understanding on the tobaccos rhizospheric microbiota and provides insight to naturally occurring antagonists that could be exploited in novel management strategies for R. solanacearum suppression in modern production systems.