"Field grown transgenic switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) with altered lignin does not affect soil chemistry, microbiology and carbon storage potential"

The soil rhizosphere effects of altered-lignin transgenic switchgrass plants (downregulating caffeic acid O-methyltranferase in the lignin biosysthetic pathway) were evaluated over the first two years of establishment in the field. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to examine soil bacterial communities. We found that there were no significant changes in bacterial community diversity or structure between transgenic plants and their non-transgenic controls.