More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Microbiome Biodiversity as a Driver of Plant Growth and Soil Health

By Muhammad Saleem, Jie Hu, A. Jousset. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 2019

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Microorganisms drive several processes needed for robust plant growth and health. Harnessing microbial functions is thus key to productive and sustainable food production. Molecular methods have led to a greater understanding of the soil microbiome composition. However, translating species or gene composition into microbiome functionality remains a challenge. Community ecology concepts such as the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning framework may help predict the assembly and function of plant-associated soil microbiomes. Higher diversity can increase the number and resilience of plant-beneficial functions that can be coexpressed and unlock the expression of plant-beneficial traits that are hard to obtain from any species in isolation. We combine well-established community ecology concepts with molecular microbiology into a workable framework that may enable us to predict and enhance soil microbiome functionality to promote robust plant growth in a global change context.

Subfields: Plant Science, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bae16b7612a4b9279a0633911780d09b530761b3