Plant Science Today, ISSN 2348-1900 (online) OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE HISTORY Received: 03 March 2022 Accepted: 02 June 2021 Available online Version 1.0 : 28 July 2022 Additional information Peer review: Publisher thanks Sectional Editor and the other anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Reprints & permissions information is avail- able at https://horizonepublishing.com/ journals/index.php/PST/open_access_policy Publisher’s Note: Horizon e-Publishing Group remains neutral with regard to jurisdic- tional claims in published maps and institu- tional afiliations. Indexing: Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Clarivate Analytics, NAAS etc. See https://horizonepublishing.com/journals/ index.php/PST/indexing_abstracting Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) CITE THIS ARTICLE Moore O, Ataga A E, Ogbuji N G. Comparative Bacterial Metagenomics of Soursop (Annona muricata L.) and Apple (Malus domestica B.) . Plant Science Today (Early Access). https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1749 Abstract Illumina Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform targeting the con- served regions of bacteria ribosomal DNA (16s rRNA) was used to identify the bacterial community associated with soursop (Annona muricata L.). The aim of this work is to compare the diversities of the bacterial communities of Annona muricata and Malus domestica [obtained from National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database]. The functional genes in these communities were also predicted. A total of 167,693 high quality reads was obtained from Annona muricata and Malus domestica. Clustering on GREENGENES database revealed 570 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs). Alpha-diversity indices indicated high diversity and abundance of microbial community. Taxonomic analysis revealed that bacterial community was grouped into 24 phyla and 455 genera. The microbiome of the samples was dominated by distinct populations of four phyla viz Proteobacteria (58.41%), Bacteroidetes (18.59%), Actinobacteria (11.13%) and Firmicutes (7.29%). The functional genes were predicted for 16S rRNA gene sequences based on Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) which indi- cated amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, xenobiotics bio- degradation and lipid metabolism, metabolism of terpenoids and polypep- tides and biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites as predominant met- abolic categories. Thus, the study revealed the structure of microbial com- munity and functional genes composition in A. muricata and M. domestica fruits and this will help to expand the knowledge concerning the structure of plant-associated bacterial communities, revealing valuable information of their impact and indicating their crucial roles in evolutionary and ecologi- cal processes. Keywords Annona muricata, bacteria, Malus domestica, metagenomics, Illumina next- generation sequencing Introduction Annona muricata (L.), commonly called soursop belongs to the family An- nonaceae (1). It is a multipurpose fruit with various nutritional benefits and has gained global essence because of its medicinal and food values (2). A. muricata is a common fruit inherent to the Caribbean and most parts of Central America which is currently being distributed and spread to several tropical areas globally and several other nations in Africa including South- ern Nigeria (3). A. muricata is susceptible to attack by microorganisms which can lead to reduction in market quality. The International Society for Infec- RESEARCH ARTICLE PLANT SCIENCE TODAY ISSN 2348-1900 (online) Vol x(x): xx–xx https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1749 HORIZON e-Publishing Group Comparative Bacterial Metagenomics of Soursop (Annona muricata L.) and Apple (Malus domestica B.) Ovieonisofien Moore 1 , Anthony Eromosele Ataga 1,2 & Nkechi Gloria Ogbuji 1,2* 1 Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, 500 102, Nigeria 2 Regional Center for Biotechnology and Bioresources Research, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, 500 102, Nigeria *Email: nkechi.iyanyi@gmail.com