ALKBIOTA · Alkaloids as signals of stress to modulate microbiome assembly in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

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Project objective

Plants host diverse communities of microorganisms called plant microbiome that provide specific services by several mechanisms.Because of its capacity to enhance plant nutrient uptake, yield, and tolerance to challenging conditions, the rhizosphere microbiomestands as a valuable bioresource for fostering sustainable agriculture. However, there remains a lack in comprehending the process ofinteraction within the rhizosphere-microbiome ecosystem. Plants secrete a broad of secondary metabolites, which vary with speciesand may interact with the biota. Alkaloids, a class of secondary metabolites play a major role in plants' signaling and defense.Although significant progress has been made in elucidating the role of polyphenols in controlling Arabidopsis roots microbiome,little is known about the impact of the alkaloids on microbiome shaping. In this project, we intend to dissect the hidden role ofalkaloids in controlling the root microbiome of tomato in response to biotic/abiotic stress and to determine the related microbialprocesses and services that will help the plant under stress using a multidisciplinary approach. We first seek to identify the effects ofPhytophthora infestans attack and nitrogen deficiency on the composition of tomato root-microbiome. Then, we intend to unravelthe biological role of alkaloids on microbiome control under stressful conditions. Afterward, the interrelation microbiome andalkaloids will be better defined using SynComs. Finally, we will employ bioinformatics pipelines to analyze data and to decode thecorrelation alkaloids-microbiome-plant performance. The outcomes of this project will provide new insights on the interactiontomato-alkaloids and microbiome, allowing for a better understanding of alkaloids, and how tomato use it to communicate with themicrobiome under stresses. It will reveal promising avenues for leveraging alkaloids as signals to control and harness therhizomicrobiome to enhance tomato fitness and production

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITAT ZU KOLN · KolnCoordinatorGermany
• UNIVERSITE DE FRIBOURG · FribourgSwitzerland

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101199810
• https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e52c0f5830&appId=PPGMS