The response of wheat and its microbiome to contemporary and historical water stress in a field experiment

In a field experiment, we evaluated the impact of 37 years of contrasting water stress history on the microbial response in various plant compartments at two distinct developmental stages when four wheat genotypes were exposed to contemporary water stress. Seeds were collected and sampled at the end of the experiment to characterize endophytic and epiphytic microbial communities. Amplicon sequencing data revealed that plant development stage and water stress history were the main factors shaping the microbiome of the major plant parts in response to contemporary water limitation. Our results indicate that seeds can become colonized by divergent microbial communities within a single generation based on the initial pool of microbes as determined by historical contingencies, which was modulated by the contemporary environmental conditions and the plant genotype. Such information is essential to incorporate microbial-based strategies into conventional plant breeding to enhance plant resistance to stress.