The seeds of Plantago lanceolata comprise a stable core microbiome along a plant richness gradient.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Seed endophytic bacteria are beneficial to plants. They improve seedling growth by enhancing plant nutrient uptake, modulating stress-related phytohormone production, and targeting pests and pathogens with antibiotics. Seed endophyte composition can be influenced by pollination, plant cultivar, and soil physicochemical conditions. However, the effects of plant community richness on seed endophytes are unknown. To investigate the effects of increasing plant species richness on the diversity and composition of the seed microbiome, we made use of a well-established long-term biodiversity experiment in Germany (The Jena Experiment). We sampled seeds from different Plantago lanceolata blossoms in a plant diversity gradient ranging from monoculture to 16 species mixtures. The

SUBMITTER: de Souza YPA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10835927 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature