Madison Goforth, Victoria Obergh, Richard Park, Martin Porchas, Kevin M Crosby, John L Jifon, Sadhana Ravishankar, Paul Brierley, Daniel L Leskovar, Thomas A Turini, Jonathan Schultheis, Timothy Coolong, Rhonda Miller, Hisashi Koiwa, Bhimanagouda S Patil, Margarethe A Cooper, Steven Huynh, Craig T Parker, Wenjing Guan, Kerry K Cooper
The goal of this study was to characterize the bacterial diversity on different melon varieties grown in different regions of the US, and determine the influence that region, rind netting, and variety of melon has on the composition of the melon microbiome. Assessing the bacterial diversity of the microbiome on the melon rind can identify antagonistic and protagonistic bacteria for foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms to improve melon safety, prolong shelf-life, and/or improve overall plant health. Bacterial community composition of melons (n = 603) grown in seven locations over a four-year period were used for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and analysis to identify bacterial diversity and constituents...
2024: PloS One