Abstract
The microbial communities associated with plants greatly affect plant health. Recently, we discovered that the model-plant Arabidopsis thaliana, upon attack by a microbial pathogen, specifically promotes a limited synergistic consortium of beneficial microbes on its roots. These microbes were isolated and shown to protect the plant against the disease. Their enrichment in soil conditioned with diseased plantsprotects a next population of plants growing in this soil. Here, we propose to make use of this phenomenon to identify and isolate microbes, that are specifically recruited by and protective of soybean plants. Soybean is the fourth major crop in the world. Moreover, soybean plants develop beneficial associations with nodule-forming bacteria and with mycorrhizal fungi and applying microbiological products is a common agricultural practice for this crop. This makes soybean an excellent crop for the development of additional microbiological products. In the proposed project we will investigate how the soybean root microbiome changes upon inoculation with three economically-important microbial pathogens of soybean. We will assess if different pathogens induce distinct changes in the rhizosphere microbial community and to what extent these changes benefit the plant. We will isolate and characterize beneficial microbes that are recruited by the soybean plants and identify plant derived chemical cues that instigate their recruitment. Finally, we will develop procedures for production in sufficient quantity, for formulations and for suitable application in the field.
Netherlands