qPCR datasets of the quantification of fungal communities within maize root-reused cover crop root channels subjected to drought stress

The copy number of the fungal ITS2 gene per gram of soil was quantified by SYBR® Green-based qPCR using a 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems™, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Aliquots of the same DNA extract utilised in amplicon sequencing were used for qPCR. Dilutions of template DNA were used to compensate for the effect of PCR inhibitors in the samples. Each sample was analysed in triplicate. A PCR amplicon of the ITS2 region derived from Trametes versicolor (DSM 11269) was used to generate the standard curve. Each 20 µL reaction contained 1 µL of template DNA, the forward and reverse primers fITS7 and ITS4 for the ITS2 gene (Ihrmark et al., 2012) without adapter nucleotides and Luna® Universal qPCR Master Mix (NEB). Reaction conditions were an initial denaturation for 1 min at 95°C, followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 15 s and extension at 60°C for 30 s. The melting curve was recorded in the temperature range of 60°C to 95°C. The gene copy numbers per gram of soil were determined in comparison against the standard essentially as before (Adelowo et al., 2018). The average efficiency value was 100.8 ± 3.2%.