Evaluation of Probiotic Diversity from Soybean (Glycine max) Seeds and Sprouts Using Illumina-Based Sequencing Method

There is increasing interest in the use of plant probiotics as environmental-friendly and healthy biofertilizers. The study aimed at selecting for novel probiotic candidates of soybean (Glycine max). The bacteriome and mycobiome of soybean sprouts and seeds were analyzed by Illumina-based sequencing. Seeds contained more diverse bacteria than those in sprouts. The seeds contained similar fungal diversity with sprouts. Total 15 bacterial OTUs and 4 fungal OTUs were detected in seeds and sprouts simultaneously, suggesting that the sprouts contained bacterial and fungal taxa transmitted from seeds. The Halothiobacillus was the most dominant bacterial genus observed and coexisted in seeds and sprouts. The OTUs belonged to Ascomycota were the most dominant fungal taxa observed in seeds and sprouts. Halothiobacillus was firstly identified as endophytic probiotics of soybean. The results suggested that sprouts might contain diverse plant probiotics of mature plants and Illumina-based sequencing can be used to screen for probiotic candidates.