PS 39-67 - Exploring sagebrush microbial metagenomes from deep, host-derived sequencing

Abstract: Recent advances in genomics have enabled the exploration of microbial communities at unprecedented depth, revealing the intricate interactions between host plants and their microbes. Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is an ecologically important plant in the western United States, the foundation species of the vast and threatened sagebrush steppe. Its leaf-associated microbial communities may play crucial roles in its health and adaptation to environmental stress; however, sagebrush leaf communities have not yet been fully characterized and we know nothing about their functional abilities. Here, we will use the recently-sequenced genome of Artemisia tridentata to explore metagenomes of leaf-associated microbes sequenced along with their host. We aim to determine if microbial metagenome-associated genomes (MAGs) can be efficiently recovered from the sequences generated for the host genome and used to investigate microbial functional genes. To achieve this, we first removed plant host reads from shotgun sequencing data by aligning against the A. tridentata reference genome using bowtie2. Then we used the remaining, unmapped reads for microbial metagenomic profiling and characterization to provide insight into the diversity of microbial communities associated with the host (sagebrush). Results show that we can recover parts of bacterial genomes, and taxa in the genera Bacillus and Paenibacillus are present. Functional profiling will increase our understanding of how these microbes interact with the host plant and their roles in plant growth, development, and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Future analyses will examine how compositional and functional diversity varies across different sagebrush populations found in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. The results of this study will shed new light on the complex and dynamic interactions between the sagebrush plant and its leaf-associated microbial communities and may help to develop strategies to support the resilience and adaptation of this ecologically important plant species in the face of ongoing global change.