The contribution of beneficial wheat seed fungal communities beyond disease-causing fungi: Advancing heritable mycobiome-based plant breeding

Wheat (Triticum sp.) is a staple cereal crop, providing nearly a fifth of the world's protein and available calories. While fungi associated with wheat plants have been known for centuries, attention to fungi associated with wheat seeds has increased over the last hundred years. Initially, research focused on fungal taxa that cause seed-borne diseases. Seeds act as a physical link between generations and host specialized fungal communities that affect seed dormancy, germination, quality, and disease susceptibility. Interest in beneficial, non-disease-causing fungal taxa associated with seeds has grown since the discovery of Epichloë in fescue, leading to a search for beneficial fungal endophytes in cereal grains. Recent studies of the wheat seed mycobiome have shown that disease, seed development, and temporal variation significantly influence the composition and structure of these fungal communities. This research, primarily descriptive, aims to better understand the wheat seed mycobiome's function in relation to the plant host. A deeper understanding of the wheat seed mycobiome's functionality may offer potential for microbiome-assisted breeding.