Root-associated bacteria are able to influence plant fitness and vigor. A key step in understanding the belowground plant-bacteria interactions is to quantify root colonization by the bacteria of interest. Probably, genetic engineering with fluorescence markers is the most powerful way to monitor bacterial strains in plant. However, this could have some collateral problems and some strains can be challenging to label. In this sense, bacterial inoculation under properly controlled conditions can enable reliable and reproducible quantification of natural bacterial strains. In this protocol, we describe a detailed procedure for quantification of root-associated bacteria. This method applies non-aggressive samples processed with morphological identification and PCR-based genetic fingerprinting. This easy-to-follow protocol is suitable for studying bacterial colonization of plants grown either in artificial medium or in soil.
