Metagenome of cultivated bacterial communities associated with sugarcane

Microorganisms are prevalent and the ones that inhabit plants have been extensively studied. Plant-associated bacteria possess various biological mechanisms that enable them to colonize the host plant and in some instances, enhance its fitness. This study investigates the genomic features linked with plant growth-promoting traits in six bacterial communities isolated from sugarcane. Using highly accurate single-molecule real-time sequencing technology on metagenomic samples from these communities, 17 genomes were recovered. Taxonomic assignments on the binned genomes revealed the presence of taxa from three major phyla: Bacillota, Bacteroidota, and Pseudomonadota, with the latter being the most dominant. The functional annotation of the metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) aimed to characterize the metabolic pathways related to plant growth-promoting traits. Our study was successful in identifying the enrichment of crucial functions such as the acquisition of phosphate and potassium, phytohormone modulation, and stress tolerance mechanisms. These findings might explain the strong colonization of these endophytes in sugarcane."