Evaluating the legacy of drought exposure on root and rhizosphere bacterial microbiomes over two plant generations.
Bintarti AF, Sulesky-Grieb A, Colovas J, Marolleau B, Boureau T
Climate Adaptation
PubMedIf drought conditions can program a plant's offspring to host different soil microbes, gardeners and farmers may one day use 'stress-trained' seeds to grow more resilient crops in an increasingly dry world.
Scientists found that when common bean plants lived through a drought, their children — the next generation grown from their seeds — had noticeably different communities of bacteria living in and around their roots, even when those offspring were grown in normal conditions. This suggests drought leaves a kind of biological memory that gets passed down. That memory in the soil microbes around the roots may help (or hinder) future plants in coping with water shortages.
Key Findings
Drought exposure in parent plants altered the root and rhizosphere bacterial microbiome composition in the next generation of offspring, even when offspring were grown without drought stress.
The legacy effects of parental drought were detectable in both the root interior (endosphere) and the surrounding soil zone (rhizosphere), indicating the influence extends across multiple microbial compartments.
Common bean, a globally important staple crop, was used as the study organism, making the findings directly relevant to food security under climate change scenarios.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants that experienced drought can pass stress-related changes to their offspring's root microbiomes, meaning a dry season may shape not just the current crop but the next generation's ability to survive water stress.
Abstract Preview
Drought is a critical risk for staple crops like common bean (
open_in_new Read full abstract on PubMedAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Chloroplast Genome Editing Eliminates Gluten Immunogenicity in Triticum aestivum
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant. Its botanical classification, along with other Phaseolus species, is as a member of the legume family, Fabaceae. It forms a green-leaved vine which produces beans inside of pods.