As part of an international research team led by Prof. Dr. Frank Hochholdinger and Dr. Peng Yu from the Crop Functional Genomics working group at the University of Bonn, the Food Microbiology and Hygiene working group (Dr. Mareike Baer) was able to elucidate cooperation between a crop plant and a group of microorganisms in the plant rhizosphere. The research team discovered that not only the soil properties but also the genetic status of maize plants significantly influence the composition of the root microbiome. The bacterial genus Massilia (Telluria since 2023) was specifically enriched by releasing flavones when there was a nitrogen deficiency. The bacteria stimulated the formation of lateral roots and thus contributed to improved nutrient uptake. The group Food Microbiology and Hygiene was able to contribute to the research results with its expertise in bacteria.
In addition to various groups of the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation (INRES) of the University of Bonn, the Southwest University Chongqing (China), the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research at Gatersleben, the Pennsylvania State University (USA), the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla (Spain), the University of Hohenheim, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA), the Julius Kühn Institute at Braunschweig, Ghent University (Belgium), the Center for Plant Systems Biology in Ghent, the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and the Food Microbiology and Hygiene group at the University of Bonn. The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), among others, including funds from the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence.
The results of the study were published in the renowned journal Nature Plants: Xiaoming He, Danning Wang, Yong Jiang, Meng Li, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Chloee McLaughlin, Caroline Marcon, Li Guo, Marcel Baer, Yudelsy A.T. Moya, Nicolaus von Wirén, Marion Deichmann, Gabriel Schaaf, Hans-Peter Piepho, Zhikai Yang, Jinliang Yang, Bunlong Yim, Kornelia Smalla, Sofie Goormachtig, Franciska T. de Vries, Hubert Hüging, Mareike Baer, Ruairidh J. H. Sawers, Jochen C. Reif, Frank Hochholdinger, Xinping Chen, Peng Yu: Heritable microbiome variation is correlated with source environment in locally adapted maize varieties, Nature Plants, DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01654-7.