Frontiers in Microbiology (Nov 2022)

Massively parallel single-cell genomics of microbiomes in rice paddies

  • Wataru Aoki,
  • Masato Kogawa,
  • Shuhei Matsuda,
  • Keisuke Matsubara,
  • Shintaro Hirata,
  • Yohei Nishikawa,
  • Yohei Nishikawa,
  • Masahito Hosokawa,
  • Masahito Hosokawa,
  • Masahito Hosokawa,
  • Masahito Hosokawa,
  • Haruko Takeyama,
  • Haruko Takeyama,
  • Haruko Takeyama,
  • Haruko Takeyama,
  • Toru Matoh,
  • Mitsuyoshi Ueda

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1024640
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPMs) have attracted increasing attention because they may be useful in increasing crop yield in a low-input and sustainable manner to ensure food security. Previous studies have attempted to understand the principles underlying the rhizosphere ecology and interactions between plants and PGPMs using ribosomal RNA sequencing, metagenomic sequencing, and genome-resolved metagenomics; however, these approaches do not provide comprehensive genomic information for individual species and do not facilitate detailed analyses of plant–microbe interactions. In the present study, we developed a pipeline to analyze the genomic diversity of the rice rhizosphere microbiome at single-cell resolution. We isolated microbial cells from paddy soil and determined their genomic sequences by using massively parallel whole-genome amplification in microfluidic-generated gel capsules. We successfully obtained 3,237 single-amplified genomes in a single experiment, and these genomic sequences provided insights into microbial functions in the paddy ecosystem. Our approach offers a promising platform for gaining novel insights into the roles of microbes in the rice rhizomicrobiome and to develop microbial technologies for improved and sustainable rice production.

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