Rice rhizosphere metagenome. rhizosphere metagenome

Bacterial cell communities inhabiting roots of rice (Oryza sativa L. cultivar Nipponbare), which were grown in paddy fields (Kashimadai Experimental Station of Tohoku University; Latitude: 38-27-39.37-N; Longitude: 141-5-33.33-E) under low N (LN; 0 kg ha-1) and standard N (SN; 30 kg ha-1) fertilization conditions in 2009. Prior to the experiments, LN field has not been subjected to N fertilization for consecutive 5 years. Soil DNA of each paddy field was also extracted. The reduction of fertilizer usage is one of the preferable field managements to attain sustainable agriculture. Herein, we applied metagenomic analysis to rice root-associated microbiome to understand microbial community shifts in paddy rice field ecosystems under different N fertilizer regimes. Rice plants were cultivated in paddy fields dressed with low N (LN; 0 kg ha-1), standard N (SN; 30 kg ha-1). Our analysis revealed that low input of N fertilizer drastically changed the functionalities of rice root-associated microbes relevant to N2 fixation, plant hormonal effect and methane cycling.