Introducing the UK Crop Microbiome Cryobank data resource, AgMicrobiomeBase, with case studies and methods on metabarcoding analyses.

BACKGROUND

Here, we describe AgMicrobiomeBase as an output of the UK Crop Microbiome Cryobank (UKCMCB) project, including details of the underlying meta-barcode sequence-based methods and three microbiome analysis case studies. The UKCMCB links genomic datasets and associated soil metadata with a cryobank collection of samples, for six economically significant crops: fava bean (Vicia faba), oil seed rape (Brassica napus), spring barley (Hordeum vulgare), spring oats (Avena sativa), spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) and sugar beet (Beta vulgaris). The crops were grown in nine agricultural soils from the UK, representing three major soil texture classes. The UKCMCB is a scalable sequence-based data catalogue linked to a cryo-preserved sample collection.

RESULTS

The focus of this paper is the amplicon sequencing, associated bioinformatics workflows, and development of the project data catalogue. Short-read amplicon sequencing (16 S rRNA gene and ITS region) was implemented to describe the rhizosphere and bulk soil communities, for the multiple crop-soil combinations. Three case studies illustrate how different biological questions in phytobiome research can be addressed using this data resource. The three case studies illustrate how to (1) determine the impact of soil texture and location on microbiome composition, (2) determine a core microbiome for a single crop across different soil types, and (3) analyse a single genus, Fusarium within a single crop microbiome. The UKCMCB data catalogue AgMicroBiomeBase ( https://agmicrobiomebase.org/data ) links the sequence-based data with soil metadata and to cryopreserved samples.

CONCLUSIONS

The UKCMCB provides baseline data and resources to enable researchers to assess the impact of soil type, location and crop type variables on crop soil microbiomes. The resource can be used to address biological questions and cross-study comparisons. Development of the UKCMCB will continue with the addition of metagenome and bacterial isolate genomic sequence data and has the potential to integrate additional data types including microbial phenotypes and synthetic microbial communities.