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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382536
Research Project: Discovery of Plant Genetic Mechanisms Controlling Microbial Recruitment to the Root Microbiome

Location: Plant Gene Expression Center

Title: Genome wide association study reveals plant loci controlling heritability of the rhizosphere microbiome

Author
item DENG, SIWEN - University Of California
item Caddell, Daniel
item XU, GEN - University Of Nebraska
item DAHLEN, LINDSAY - University Of California
item WASHINGTON, LORENZO - University Of California
item WANG, JINLIANG - University Of Nebraska
item Coleman-Derr, Devin

Submitted to: The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2021
Publication Date: 5/12/2021
Citation: Deng, S., Caddell, D.F., Xu, G., Dahlen, L., Washington, L., Wang, J., Coleman-Derr, D.A. 2021. Genome wide association study reveals plant loci controlling heritability of the rhizosphere microbiome. The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology. Available: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-00993-z.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-00993-z

Interpretive Summary: Host genetics has recently been shown to be a driver of plant microbiome composition. However, identifying the underlying genetic loci controlling microbial selection remains challenging. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) represent a potentially powerful, unbiased method to identify microbes sensitive to host genotype, and to connect them with the genetic loci that influence their colonization. plant growth and confer tolerance to abiotic stress, which suggests common principles underpinning Agave-microbe interactions. ARS anticipates that GWAS of plant microbiome association will promote a comprehensive understanding of the host molecular mechanisms underlying the assembly of microbiomes and facilitate breeding efforts to promote beneficial microbiomes and improve plant yield.

Technical Abstract: In this study ARS conducted a population-level microbiome analysis of the rhizospheres of 200 sorghum genotypes. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, ARS identify rhizosphere-associated bacteria exhibiting heritable associations with plant genotype and identify significant overlap between these lineages and heritable taxa recently identified in maize. Furthermore, ARS demonstrate that GWAS can identify host loci that correlate with the abundance of specific subsets of the rhizosphere microbiome. Finally, ARS demonstrate that these results can be used to predict rhizosphere microbiome structure for an independent panel of sorghum genotypes based solely on knowledge of host genotypic information.