The Role of Soil Microbial Diversity in the Conservation of Native Seed Bacterial Microbiomes

In this study, we characterized the seed microbiota of G. clandestina, a perennial wild rela-tive of soybean (G. max (L.) Merr.) to expand our understanding about the effect of other storage procedures such as periodic regeneration of seed stocks to bulk up seed numbers and secure viability on the seed microbiome of said seed. The G. clandestina microbiota was analysed from G1 and G2 seed and from mature plant organs grown in two different soil treatments [ T (treatment [native soil + potting mix]) and C (control [potting mix only]). Our dataset showed that soil microbiota had a strong influence on next generation seed micro-biota, with an increased contribution of root microbiota by 90% and seed transmissibility by 25% in G2 (T) seed. Interestingly, the G2 seed microbiota primarily consisted of initially low abundance taxa present in G1 seed. Overall, our results indicate that seed regeneration can affect the seed microbiome composition and using native soil from the location of the source plant can enhance the conservation of the native seed microbiota.