Multiple origins of the apple seed microbiome: disentangling sexual and asexual transmission pathways.
Faticov M, Tack AJM, Ortner D, Berg G, Abdelfattah A
Seed Microbiome
The bacteria living inside the apple seeds you plant—or that apple trees pass to their offspring—directly influence how healthy and productive those trees become, meaning breeders may soon be able to engineer better-performing apple orchards by selecting for beneficial seed microbes.
Apple seeds don't grow in a bacterial vacuum—they're home to a whole community of tiny microorganisms that help shape the future tree's health. Researchers found these bacteria get into seeds in two ways: through the flower's reproductive parts during pollination, and through the tree's internal plumbing system. Strangely, almost half the bacterial community in seeds couldn't be traced back to any known source, which means there's still a lot to discover about how plants pass their microbial partners to the next generation.
Key Findings
Both sexual (30.3%, via pollen and ovary) and asexual (23.8%, via the tree's vascular spurs) pathways contribute to seed microbiome assembly in apple trees.
Branch spurs sampled before bloom had significantly higher bacterial richness and diversity than all other tissue types, including seeds, ovaries, and pollen.
45.9% of the apple seed microbiome could not be attributed to any measured source, indicating major unknown transmission routes remain undiscovered.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered that apple seeds carry their own communities of bacteria, inherited through two distinct pathways: via flower parts (sexual) and through the tree's vascular system (asexual). Surprisingly, nearly half the seed microbiome came from unknown sources, suggesting there are transmission routes yet to be identified.
Abstract Preview
The seed microbiome plays a key role in the assembly of the plant microbiome, which has major impacts on plant health. Nonetheless, little is known about the origin of the seed microbiome. We inves...
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