Single Seed Microbiota: Assembly and Transmission from Parent Plant to Seedling
Guillaume Chesneau, Béatrice Laroche, Anne Préveaux, Coralie Marais, Martial Briand, Brice Marolleau, Marie Simonin, Matthieu Barret
Abstract
Seeds are key components of plant fitness and are central to the sustainability of the agri-food system. Both the seed quality for food consumption and the seed vigor in agricultural settings can be influenced by the seed microbiota. Understanding the ecological processes involved in seed microbiota assembly will inform future practices for promoting the presence of important seed microorganisms for plant health and productivity. Our results highlighted that seeds were associated with one dominant bacterial taxon of variable taxonomic identity. This variety of dominant taxa was due to (i) spatial heterogeneity between and within plants and (ii) primary succession during seed development. According to neutral models, selection was the main driver of microbial community assembly for both plant species.