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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.05.29.728892

Microbial exometabolite responses to root exudates from tallgrass prairie plants

Novak, V.·de Raad, M.·Vittaladevuni, A.·Saraf, V.·Midgley, M.·Hernandez, C.·Barber, N. A.·Northen, T. R.
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Abstract

Root exudates influence soil microbial community assembly and function, yet plant species-specific effects on microbially-driven metabolic transformations remain insufficiently characterized under controlled conditions. Here, we present a multi-omic dataset of exudate-microbe interactions across six plant species, including tallgrass prairie species (Helianthus pauciflorus, Carex brevior, Eragrostis spectabilis, Astragalus canadensis, and Panicum virgatum) and a model grass (Brachypodium distachyon), generated using an in vitro incubation experiment. Sterile root exudates were used to amend a soil-mimicking medium inoculated with a native tall-grass prairie soil microbiome. The dataset includes full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing for microbial community profiling, untargeted LC-MS/MS metabolomics for exometabolomic profiling, and optical density measurements of microbial growth. We describe the axenic plant growth protocols, experimental design, data acquisition, processing workflows, and technical validation. This dataset provides a resource for investigating microbially mediated exometabolite transformations across diverse plant species to help understand rhizosphere processes, microbiome assembly, and ecosystem function.

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Novak, V., de Raad, M., Vittaladevuni, A., Saraf, V., Midgley, M., Hernandez, C., Barber, N. A., Northen, T. R.. 2026-05-30. Microbial exometabolite responses to root exudates from tallgrass prairie plants. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.29.728892

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