DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL PLANT HOLOBIONT SYSTEM AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

Abstract

Plants coexist with soil microbes across many habitats as holobionts—a macroorganism with its associated microbes. Understanding the mechanisms of plant-microbial interactions in a holobiont remains challenging. A novel plant holobiont system for co-culture of plants with complex microbial communities with hundreds of taxa was developed for three species of plants: the model plant (Arabidopsis thaliana), and two vegetables (choy sum [Brassica rapa subsp. Parachinensis] and kai lan [Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra]). As one of the first in vitro plant holobiont system that both supports a highly complex microbiome and displays their benefits to plant phenotype, concurrent analysis of root metabolites and root microbiome genomics analysis was also achieved. The system provides a mesocosm to study plant holobionts and their interactions with microbial symbionts. Vegetables showed strong rhizosphere effect through distinct microbial communities from surrounding soil. The plant holobiont system can improve agriculture using native soil microbes without genetic modification.