Wheat Microbiome: Structure, Dynamics, and Role in Improving Performance Under Stress Environments

Abstract

Wheat is an important cereal crop species consumed globally. The growing global population demands a rapid and sustainable growth of agricultural systems. The development of genetically efficient wheat varieties has solved the global demand for wheat to a greater extent. The use of chemical substances for pathogen control and chemical fertilizers for enhanced agronomic traits also proved advantageous but at the cost of environmental health. An efficient alternative environment-friendly strategy would be the use of beneficial microorganisms growing on plants, which have the potential of controlling plant pathogens as well as enhancing the host plant’s water and mineral availability and absorption along with conferring tolerance to different stresses. Therefore, a thorough understanding of plant-microbe interaction, identification of beneficial microbes and their roles, and finally harnessing their beneficial functions to enhance sustainable agriculture without altering the environmental quality is appealing. The wheat microbiome shows prominent variations with the developmental stage, tissue type, environmental conditions, genotype, and age of the plant. A diverse array of bacterial and fungal classes, genera, and species was found to be associated with stems, leaves, roots, seeds, spikes, and rhizospheres, etc., which play a beneficial role in wheat. Harnessing the beneficial aspect of these microbes is a promising method for enhancing the performance of wheat under different environmental stresses. This review focuses on the microbiomes associated with wheat, their spatio-temporal dynamics, and their involvement in mitigating biotic and abiotic stresses.

Shifts in the diversity of root endophytic microorganisms across the life cycle of the ratooning rice Jiafuzhan

“…Furthermore, the root endophytic microorganisms of the first crop changed over time so that the microorganisms at the end stages of the first crop greatly differed from the microorganisms at the early stage (Figure 3; Supplementary Figure S2). Based on the results, the changes in the root endophytic microorganisms of ratooning rice after the first harvest in our study may be due to the rebuilt bacterial communities in the new roots after the first harvest (Zhang et al, 2018) and applying fertilizers before and after the first harvest of regenerated rice (Chen et al, 2022).…”

Synergic mitigation of saline-alkaline stress in wheat plant by silicon and Enterobacter sp. FN0603

“…Halotolerant Enterobacter mitigates salt stress and promote plant growth by various processes, such as the production of ACC deaminase, IAA biosynthesis, phosphorus solubilization, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production, EPS secretion and biofilm formation ( Etesami and Glick, 2020 ). Enterobacter was one of core endophytic microbiota in many plants ( Riva et al, 2022 ) and particular important to the salt tolerance of wheat ( Chen et al, 2022 ). The Enterobacter sp.…”

“…From approximately 2016 to the present, treatment with a combination of silicon and PGPR to effectively mitigate plant salt stress has attracted more attention due to its efficacy and an ecofriendly approach for future sustainable agriculture ( Mahmood et al, 2016 ; Etesami and Adl, 2020 ; Kubi et al, 2021 ; Mahmood et al, 2022 ). Plant-microbe interactions are viewed as a key adaptive survival strategy in abiotic stress ( Chen et al, 2022 ; Trivedi et al, 2022 ). But at present, the effect of PGPR on the microorganism community structure is not sufficient ( Ji et al, 2021 ).…”

The role of vertical and horizontal transmission in the assembly of seed fungal endophyte communities in wheat and wheat wild relatives

“…The number of endophytic fungal species within a given plant varies considerably, with recent studies indicating that hundreds of different amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) can be detected in some plant species (Gdanetz et al 2021; de Souza et al 2016; Fonseca-García et al 2016). Certain fungal endophytes have well-established beneficial effects on their hosts, such as protection from pathogens, improved performance under abiotic stress, and growth promotion (Llorens et al 2019; Bouzouina et al 2021; Bastias et al 2017; Chitnis et al 2020; Chen et al 2021). However, the role of the bulk of the species and their relationships with the host plants remain unclear.…”

“…All plant species contain fungal endophyte communities (FECs), which are part of their microbiome (Chen et al 2021). These FECs are dynamic, they vary in composition between species and tissues, and are affected by plant developmental stage and environmental conditions.…”