Host genotype‑specific plant microbiome correlates with wheat disease resistance

Abstract

Disease-resistant wheat cultivars exhibited significantly lower infection rates in field conditions, associated with higher microbial diversity in key compartments such as the rhizosphere soil and phylloplane. Microbial community analysis revealed compartment-specific selection effects, with significant horizontal microbial transfers noted across plant tissues, suggesting a strong compartment-dependent selection from soil microbiomes. Further, resistant varieties were enriched of potential beneficial microbial taxa that contribute to plant health and disease resistance from seedling to adult stages. This was verified by rhizosphere microbiome transplantation experiment, where the inoculation of the rhizosphere microbiome of resistant cultivars suppressed pathogen infection and enhanced plant growth, indicating that wheat resistance to soil-borne virus disease depended on the interaction of the host with the microbial community around it. Our results also demonstrated that the microbial composition and network at the seedling stage predicted wheat health and pathogen susceptibility. Disease infection simplified the intra-kingdom networks and increased potentially beneficial taxa such as Massilia, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas within the microbiome. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into the microbial dynamics influenced by host traits and their implications for disease resistance and plant health, offering potential strategies for agricultural biocontrol and disease management.