Tomato Domestication Affects Potential Functional Molecular Pathways of Root-Associated Soil Bacteria.

Lisanne Smulders,Rafael Alcalá Herrera,Victoria Ferrero,Álvaro López-García,María J Pozo,Emilio Benítez,Eduardo De La Peña,Beatriz Moreno

doi:10.3390/plants10091942

Abstract

While it has been well evidenced that plant domestication affects the structure of the root-associated microbiome, there is a poor understanding of how domestication-mediated differences between rhizosphere microorganisms functionally affect microbial ecosystem services. In this study, we explore how domestication influenced functional assembly patterns of bacterial communities in the root-associated soil of 27 tomato accessions through a transect of evolution, from plant ancestors to landraces to modern cultivars. Based on molecular analysis, functional profiles were predicted and co-occurrence networks were constructed based on the identification of co-presences of functional units in the tomato root-associated microbiome. The results revealed differences in eight metabolic pathway categories and highlighted the influence of the host genotype on the potential functions of soil bacterial communities. In general, wild tomatoes differed from modern cultivars and tomato landraces which showed similar values, although all ancestral functional characteristics have been conserved across time. We also found that certain functional groups tended to be more evolutionarily conserved in bacterial communities associated with tomato landraces than those of modern varieties. We hypothesize that the capacity of soil bacteria to provide ecosystem services is affected by agronomic practices linked to the domestication process, particularly those related to the preservation of soil organic matter.

Highlights

IntroductionRhizopshere microbiota are well known to play a critical role in both the adaptation of plants to the environment, and contribute to a wide range of essential ecosystem services, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, plant growth promotion, soil structure stability, food web 4.0/)
Rootnificant traits influence selectedon during domestication were previously suggested to found have a signifisimilar core bacterial microbiome members in tomato landraces and modern commercial cant influence on the composition of the rhizosphere microbiome
In our study we found that core bacterial microbiome is similar between tomato landraces and modern commercial cultivars with small differences with wild tomato

Summary

Introduction

Rhizopshere microbiota are well known to play a critical role in both the adaptation of plants to the environment, and contribute to a wide range of essential ecosystem services, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, plant growth promotion, soil structure stability, food web 4.0/). The question of how the host and its environment regulate microbiome assembly and cooccurrence in plant species has not been addressed yet. This is of particular interest for crops in the context of plant–soil feedback, where plants can change soil biology and chemistry in ways that could affect subsequent plant growth [9]

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