Culturomics from field-grown crop plants using dilution-to extinction, two-step library preparation and amplicon sequencing

This study enhances culturomics methods for analyzing the plant microbiome of field-grown corn and pea in North Dakota, USA. It innovates by combining a dilution-to-extinction cultivation approach with a cost-effective two-step PCR for microbe identification, avoiding traditional gel cutting to reduce cost and labor. The research employs high-throughput techniques and sequences the informative V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, using the DADA2 package in R for precise bioinformatics analysis. This approach aims to improve the understanding of microbial interactions in plant roots, potentially impacting agricultural practices and sustainability.