FIG 2.

Bacterial community structure according to different exudation levels of sugars or jasmonic acid based on the hydroponics data for each plant and soil compartment. Shown are the constrained principal coordinate analysis (CAP) results based on the Bray-Curtis distance matrices showing the separation of samples from the different levels of sugars or jasmonic acid (JA) concentration in root exudates. Samples from the 12 maize genotypes were classified as low, medium, or high sugars/jasmonic acid exuders according to Fig. 1. Analyses include samples from the three maize developmental stages. The values shown in each graph indicate whether the factor tested (jasmonic acid or sugar levels) significantly affected (P < 0.05) the bacterial communities according to permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA). R² indicates how much of the sample variability is explained by that factor. The graphs showing the separation of samples according to the different levels of total sugars or jasmonic acid in root exudates were constrained for the factors sugar levels and jasmonic acid levels. The soil within rows refers to the bulk soil collected in the rows where the plants were growing and close to plant roots. The other bulk soil compartment sampled (between rows and further from roots) was not affected by JA and sugar levels in root exudates, and for this reason, it was not included in this figure. PCo, principal coordinate analysis.