Nepenthes fluid microbial diversity and composition Targeted Locus (Loci). plant metagenome

Carnivorous pitcher plants host complex microbiota that may play a role in the digestion of their prey. We assessed the diversity of microbial communities in the pitcher fluids of Nepenthes and investigated whether the composition was related to the host-plant species, their geographic origin, and/or the developmental stage of the pitchers. Diversity was measured by 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and compared with quantitative community analysis by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)