16S rRNA sequencing of soil associated with populations of Arbutus trees in U.S. and Croatia

Thirty-five trees tentatively identified as Arbutus unedo were sampled across eight sites in California and one site in Croatia, which include planted and natural populations. Besides phylogenetic analysis using three standard plant barcodes (matK, rbcL, and trnH-psbA), the soil samples associated with each tree were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing for bacterial composition. The goals of this study were to evaluate the utility of each biomarker for phylogenetic analysis of Arbutus genus and possible correlations of different Arbutus populations with soil content and bacterial diversity.