Abstract
Soil microbes that colonize plant roots and are responsive to differences in plant genotype remain to be ascertained for agronomically important crops. From a very large-scale longitudinal field study of 27 maize inbred lines planted in three fields, with partial replication 5 y later, we identify root-associated microbiota exhibiting reproducible associations with plant genotype. Analysis of 4,866 samples identified 143 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) whose variation in relative abundances across the samples was significantly regulated by plant genotype, and included five of seven core OTUs present in all samples. Plant genetic effects were significant amid the large effects of plant age on the rhizosphere microbiome, regardless of the specific community of each field, and despite microbiome responses to climate events. Seasonal patterns showed that the plant root microbiome is locally seeded, changes with plant growth, and responds to weather events. However, against this background of variation, specific taxa responded to differences in host genotype. If shown to have beneficial functions, microbes may be considered candidate traits for selective breeding.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 7368-7373 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 115 |
Issue number | 28 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 10 Jul 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Funding
We thank Sherry Flint-Garcia, Stephen Moose, Ayme Spor, and Lynn Marie Johnson for assistance. This work was supported by NSF Inspire Track II Grants IOS-1343020 (to R.E.L. and J.L.D.), IOS-0958184 (to R.E.L.), and IOS-0958245 (to J.L.D.). Support was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (J.L.D.), NSF Grants IOS-0820619 and IOS-1238014 (to J.P., J.G.W., and E.S.B.), the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (E.S.B.), the University of Georgia (J.G.W.), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Max Planck Society (R.E.L. and W.A.W.). This work was funded by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Director’s Discretionary Grand Challenge Program. Work conducted by the US Department of Energy (DOE) JGI, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Sherry Flint-Garcia, Stephen Moose, Ayme Spor, and Lynn Marie Johnson for assistance. This work was supported by NSF Inspire Track II Grants IOS-1343020 (to R.E.L. and J.L.D.), IOS-0958184 (to R.E.L.), and IOS-0958245 (to J.L.D.). Support was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (J.L.D.), NSF Grants IOS-0820619 and IOS-1238014 (to J.P., J.G.W., and E.S.B.), the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (E.S.B.), the University of Georgia (J.G.W.), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Max Planck Society (R.E.L. and W.A.W.). This work was funded by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Director’s Discretionary Grand Challenge Program. Work conducted by the US Department of Energy (DOE) JGI, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
DOE Office of Science | |
Joint Genome Institute | |
Office of Science of the US DOE | |
US Department of Energy | |
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service | |
National Science Foundation | IOS-0958184, IOS-0958245, IOS-1343020 |
David and Lucile Packard Foundation | |
Howard Hughes Medical Institute | |
U.S. Department of Energy | |
Directorate for Biological Sciences | 1343020, 1238014, 0958245, 0958184, 0820619 |
U.S. Department of Agriculture | |
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation | IOS-0820619, IOS-1238014 |
National Sleep Foundation | |
Office of Science | DE-AC02-05CH11231 |
University of Georgia | |
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft |
Keywords
- Field study
- Heritabilit
- Maize
- Rhizosphere
- Soil microbiome