The identification of processes activated by specific microbes during microbiota colonization of plant roots is hampered by technical issues in metatranscriptomics. Here, Vannier et al. colonized germ-free plants with a defined root microbiota comprising over 100 microbial isolates, and addressed those issues in various ways to identify strain-specific processes as well as common gene sets activated by microbes during root colonization.
- Nathan Vannier
- Fantin Mesny
- Stéphane Hacquard