Title:

Metagenomic Analysis of Heat-Disturbed Soil Microbial Community

Crops provide 82% of the global calorie supply. Soil microbes influence crop production. Heat treatments like steaming are commonly used for pest and disease control and impact soil microbiomes non-selectively. Studies indicate that host preference and microbial invasiveness are linked traits. To understand whether hosts could alter the recovery of a disturbed microbiome, we conducted a five-week microcosm experiment on heat-treated soils, with and without a plant host. Whole genome DNA sequence data from the soil samples were used to understand the soil microbial structure. The metagenomic analysis was performed using Kraken2 and Bracken bioinformatics tools. Our preliminary results indicate that microbial DNA from the steaming treatment recovers more quickly compared to autoclaving; steaming results in structural disturbance in the top of the rhizosphere, but not as much as autoclaving; plants may play a role in microbial recovery in autoclaved top samples, microbes exhibited greater resistance and resilience to steaming than to autoclaving.

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