A TNL receptor mediates microbiome feedbacks in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Plant performance depends on the soil microbiome. While microbiome feedbacks are well documented, the mechanisms by which plants perceive and mediate these feedbacks remain unclear. We established a framework using two distinct microbiomes in the same soil, where one led to enhanced growth of the Arabidopsis thaliana accession Col-0. Screening 410 accessions revealed substantial variation in growth feedbacks, which we used for genome-wide association mapping. We identified the immune receptor Mediator of Microbiome Feedback 1 (MMF1) as a candidate gene involved in microbiota feedbacks. Characterisation in the reference accession Col-0 revealed that mmf1 mutants lost the beneficial growth feedback, had an altered root bacterial community, and failed to induce a defence-related transcriptional response observed in wild-type plants. The discovery of MMF1 implies that integration of microbial signals optimises host microbiome composition and immune status to enhance growth.