Work package 2: In collaboration with our international partners, we investigate how microbiome recruitment and functionality change when plants are grown in soils at their centres of origin. Here, we take a selection of wild and domesticated plant species back to their origin, and determine how the taxonomy and functionality of the root microbiome changes under conditions where plants are exposed to different stresses. We hypothesize that plant domestication has led to a reduced microbial diversity and functionality. This is a topic of great debate in the field, and our comprehensive approach will provide key information to guide future breeding programmes towards crop varieties that maximize profitable functions from their root microbiome.
