Pathogen infection selects a distinct microbial community in sorghum RILs

Sorghum, is one of the main staples for the food insecure people. It is attractive to breeders due to its drought tolerance, bioenergy potential, human food and animal feed. Sorghum, hosts microbes that can have neutral, negative or positive effects on the plant. While the majority of microorganisms are beneficial, pathogens colonize leaves and overwhelm the plant defence mechanisms. This colonization is a direct threat to the sorghum productivity, yet little is known about microbial diversity, and the interplay between associated bacteria and fungi remains unexplored. Metabarcoding is a promising tool for the in planta-detection of multiple pathogens and beneficial microbes. Characterizing microbes in diseased and non-diseased plants is important for crop breeding as diversity can be used as a healthy plant biomarker in breeding strategies.