Spartina alterniflora rhizosphere microbiome

Smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora predominates salt marshes on the east coast of the United States. While the physicochemical cues affecting S. alterniflora primary productivity have been studied intensively, the role of plant-microbe interactions in ecosystem functioning remains poorly understood. Thus, in this study, the effect S. alterniflora phenotype on the abundance and composition of archaeal and bacterial, diazotrophic communities were investigated. The prokaryotic communities were determined by the amplification V4 variable regions of the SSU rRNA gene using the primer set 515F and 806R