Metagenomics as a Tool to Explore New Insights from Plant-Microbe Interface

Microbial communities colonizing in and around the plants are essential for their survival and act as key determinants for plant’s holistic health to make the dynamic plant microbiome. The microbiome comprises of trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms interacting with each other as well as with the plants. Metagenomics is a powerful tool that enables rapid analysis of microbial heterogenicity, thus helping us to understand the association of microorganisms within their environment and the overall functioning of microbiome. Herein, an overview of culture-independent methods to explore the unculturable/yet to culture microbial diversity of plant microbiome is addressed. This chapter focuses on the different constituents of plant-microbe interface and the metagenomic studies related to them.