Over millions of years plants have co-evolved with their soil microbes to overcome challenges, relying on them for non-innate immunity, stress tolerance and nutrient acquisition. The modern potato, (Solanum Tuberosum sp. tuberosum), has undergone many changes from its wild and landrace progenitors. Selection for greater yield in higher input soils may have led to the loss or alteration of plant traits related to microbial interactions, potentially changing the diversity, assembly, and function of their microbiome and reducing the potential for positive plant responses. Here, we examined the structure and function of potato rhizosphere microbiomes across an evolutionary gradient by comparing modern potato more ancestral wild species (Solanum Berthaulti), Andean, and Chilean landraces grow with microbial communities from natural prairies or agricultural fields. We hypothesized more ancient landraces of S. tuberosum 1) recruit distinct microbiomes compared to modern varieties, and 2) show greater relative benefit in tuber yield from their associated microbiome, especially in nutrient poor conditions
Results/Conclusions:
We found differences in biomass and yield in landrace vs. modern potato varieties across different microbial inocula in low nutrient conditions, which may stem from potential similarities and differences in microbial recruitment, diversity, and function across S. Tuberosum’s evolutionary history. Coupled with amplicon sequencing, we compare plant physiological differences to the plant rhizosphere microbiomes among potato taxonomic groups, initial microbial inocula, and nutrient conditions. We observed regardless of microbial inoculation source there's a clear divergence in microbial communities between landraces and those of their modern descendants in low nutrient conditions. Our findings indicate that domestication of potato has resulted in changes in the structure and function of its associated microbiome, with potential consequences for potato production in high versus low input agriculture.