Host genotype, soil composition, and geo-climatic factors shape the fonio seed microbiome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Fonio (Digitaria exilis), an orphan millet crop, is the oldest indigenous crop in West Africa. Although the yield is low due to pre-domestication characteristics, the quick maturation time, drought tolerance, and the ability to thrive on poor soils make fonio a climate-smart crop. Being holobionts, plants evolve in close interaction with microbial partners, which is crucial for plant phenology and fitness. As seeds are the bottleneck of vertically transmitting plant microbiota, we proposed to unravel the seed microbiome of the under-domesticated and resilient crop fonio. Our study investigated the bacterial seed endophyte diversity across 126 sequenced fonio accessions from distinct locations in West Africa. We conducted a correlation study of the structures and function

SUBMITTER: Tabassum N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10792890 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature