DNA reveals the roots of high ecological interest data

Plants have an aerial part, easily identifiable and measurable, and an underground part, the roots. The main objective of this study was to analyze what data provided by these hidden parts of the plants in order to advance the understanding of diversity and structure. "In this study we have used a novel molecular technique called DNA metabarcoding"Says Silvia Matesanz, lead author of the study and researcher at the URJC. "This methodology allows the simultaneous identification of many species in samples composed of different tissues such as roots in our case," he adds. By employing this technique, the researchers have managed to quantify the abundance of underground roots of plant species of a type of bush that grows in the Mediterranean basin.

So far, the results of quantification of DNA metabarcoding was one of the major limitations of the technique. However, this study, published in her journal Molecular Ecology Resources , opens the door to new research in the field of ecology of plant communities and is estimated to mean a step forward in its many other applications. "For example, this same technique could in complex mixtures composed of other organisms such as soil invertebrates" said researcher URJC.

An "X" underground Full

To carry out this study, researchers have created mixes roots five abundant species in a community of Mediterranean scrub in different proportions. They have applied different methods post-sequencing, as creations index correction between the amount of added roots of each species in each sample and DNA quantified in each to obtain estimates of the identity and abundance of plants . "Our results show that the use of these indices correction to quantify not only the presence but also the abundance of plant roots in mixtures composed of multiple species," explains Silvia Matesanz.

The results represent a significant advance in ecology, since that will investigate not only the distribution of the roots of the species but also their actual abundances on the ground. Future research may make comparisons between distribution patterns and ecological processes, which are not observed with the naked eye, with those processes occurring in surface and have traditionally been easy to analyze.