Culture dependent and independent analysis of bacterial communities associated with commercial salad leaf vegetables

Table 3 Diversity statistics for bacterial communities associated with leafy salad vegetables as determined from pyrosequencing

Diversity statistics	Baby spinach				Romaine lettuce				Red leaf lettuce				Iceberg lettuce				Green leaf lettuce
Diversity statistics	C	Cs	O	Os	C	Cs	O	Os	C	Cs	O	Os	C	Cs	O	Os	C	Cs	O	Os
Number of OTUs	22	34	57	31	46	42	17	17	71	40	92	73	54	48	36	48	62	41	52	64
Total sequence reads obtained	5356	2142	2333	2610	2347	1769	2716	2702	3073	2113	2155	1640	1507	2633	2808	2740	2371	2423	2512	2365

Samples are baby spinach, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, and green leaf lettuce in conventional (C) and organic (O) varieties. Each was also subject to surface sterilization (designated by an s) to determine just the endophytic community. Values are derived from a standardized 1,507 OTU sequences per sample.

ISSN: 1471-2180