Time series microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere microbiome. Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere microbiome

This project investigates the phyllosphere microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant samples were collected from six wild field sites around Tuebingen, Germany, over a six-year period (2014-2019). Sampling was conducted twice per year (spring and fall). For each plant, the epiphytic and endophytic microbial fractions were separated prior to DNA extraction. In total, DNA was obtained from 352 epiphytic and 351 endophytic samples, resulting in 703 samples overall. Note that some plants contain only one microbial fraction due to low DNA yield or other experimental constraints. Amplicon libraries were generated targeting the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V5 region), fungal ITS2, and the eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene (V9 region). Based on 703 samples and three amplicon targets per sample, 2109 libraries would be expected (703 x 3). However, 32 samples were prepared and sequenced twice due to repeated library preparation. This resulted in 96 additional libraries (32 x 3), yielding a total of 2205 paired-end sequencing libraries. These comprise 2205 forward reads and 2205 reverse reads. Duplicate libraries represent technical replicates and may be merged during downstream analysis or one replicate may be retained.