Microbial expression profiles in the rhizosphere of two maize lines differing in N use efficiency

Study of the microbial expression profile in the rhizosphere of two contrasting maize lines, differing in the Nitrogen Use efficiency (NUE). The Lo5 and T250 inbred maize characterized by high and low NUE, respectively, were grown inrhizoboxes allowing precise sampling of rhizosphere and bulk soils. We conducted metatranscriptomic of rhizosphere and bulk soil by m-RNA sequencing. High activity of bacteria was observed com-pared to archaea and fungi in both rhizosphere and bulk soils of both maize lines. Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were involved in all processes, while significant shifts occurred in the expression of Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Cyanobacteria , archaea and fungi, indicating their possible role in specific processes occurring in rhizo-sphere of two maize lines. Maize plants with different NUE induced changes in microbial processes, especially in N cycling, with high NUE maize favouring ammo-nification and nitrification processes and low NUE maize inducing expression of genes encoding for denitrifying process, likely favoured by longer N residence time in the rhizosphere. Theseresults can improve our understanding on plant-microbe interaction in the rhizosphere of crop plantswith potential applications for improving the manage-ment practices of the agro-ecosystems.