Different Microbiomes Are Hosted in the Rhizosphere and Mycorrhizosphere of Tuber magnatum Truffle Seedlings

The economic importance of the white truffle (Tuber magnatum Pico) has encouraged attempts to its cultivation through artificial spore inoculations, but results are still poor due difficulties in obtained good mycorrhized seedlings. Bacteria and fungi have been suggested to influence the development of several truffle species in the different phase of their life cycle and have a role in the mycorrhizal symbiosis establishment.

To deeply characterize the structure of the microbial communities associated with the roots of truffle-inoculated we sequenced both the bacterial 16s and fungal ITS rRNA genes with the Illumina MiSeq system. We obtained approximately 12M bacterial and 10M fungal paired-end reads. Bioinformatic and statistical analyses were performed under Linux Operative systems. Results showed that complex bacterial and fungal communities of the ectomycorrhizosphere that are clearly differentiated from those of the surrounding soil and the rhizosphere. Main results were then presented and discussed in this contribution.