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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Soil Management and Sugarbeet Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #407664
Research Project: Agricultural Management for Long-Term Sustainability and Soil Health

Location: Soil Management and Sugarbeet Research

Title: Tomato domestication rather than subsequent breeding events reduces microbial associations related to phosphorus recovery

Author
item DIXON, MARY - Colorado State University
item AFKAIRIN, ANTISAR - Colorado State University
item DAVIS, JESSICA - Colorado State University
item CHITWOOD-BROWN, JESSICA - Colorado State University
item BUCHANAN, CASSIDY - Colorado State University
item IPPOLITTO, JAMES - Colorado State University
item Manter, Daniel
item VIVANCO, JORGE - Colorado State University

Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2024
Publication Date: 4/30/2024
Citation: Dixon, M., Afkairin, A., Davis, J., Chitwood-Brown, J., Buchanan, C.M., Ippolitto, J.A., Manter, D.K., Vivanco, J.M. 2024. Tomato domestication rather than subsequent breeding events reduces microbial associations related to phosphorus recovery. Scientific Reports. 14. Article e9934. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60775-3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60775-3

Interpretive Summary: Phosphorus (P) is a nonrenewable resource, and thus, methods of P recovery and enhanced P-efficiency need to be addressed. Examining the impact of domestication and breeding on traits related to P scavenging may help enhance P acquisition efficiency in modern cultivars. Our results suggest that wild tomato, more so than modern or traditional, relies on enhancing P acquisition, through microbiological associations, to grow and develop in low P stress. Conversely, modern and traditional tomato may be using strategies separate from microbial symbiosis to mitigate symptoms of P deficiency. Focusing on selection of traits to enhance microbial symbiosis in modern tomato varieties to enhance overall P use efficiency.

Technical Abstract: Phosphorus (P) is a nonrenewable resource, and thus, methods of P recovery and enhanced P-efficiency need to be addressed. Examining the impact of domestication and breeding on traits related to P scavenging may help enhance P acquisition efficiency in modern cultivars. Here, we examined the impacts of low-P stress on tomato (Solanum spp.) across a domestication gradient (wild, traditional, modern). We grew 12 varieties of tomato for eight weeks in either unfertilized or P-fertilized soils and collected data on plant productivity (biomass, shoot P) and root-related (rhizosphere microbiome) traits. We found that wild tomato, particularly accession LA0716 (S. pennellii), uniquely responded to low-P by culturing a rhizosphere microbiota with a greater population of P-solubilizing bacteria compared to traditional and modern tomato. Accession LA0716 was highly reliant on microbial associations to acquire P. Among the cultivated varieties, modern and traditional tomato responded similarly to the P deficit. Modern and traditional tomato groups did not differ in their response to P deficiency, including the rhizosphere microbiome. Our study suggests that while domestication has heavily shifted the P acquisition response of tomato, the tomato breeding process has left cultivated varieties largely unchanged regarding P acquisition. Trait selection to enhance P acquisition in current tomato varieties may help future cultivars have greater overall P use efficiency, leading to less fertilization of this nonrenewable resource.