Evaluating Mechanisms of Soil Microbiome Suppression of Striga Infection in Sorghum
Tamera Taylor,
Jiregna Shekata,
Mahdere Shimels,
Desalegn Etalo,
Benjamin Thiombiano,
Aimee Walmsey,
Alexander Chen,
Harro Bouwmeester,
Jos M. Raaijmakers,
Siobhan Brady,
Dorota Kawa
Affiliations
Tamera Taylor
Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USAPlant Biology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Jiregna Shekata
Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Mahdere Shimels
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Department of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Desalegn Etalo
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Department of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Benjamin Thiombiano
Plant Hormone Biology Group, Green Life Sciences Cluster, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Aimee Walmsey
Plant Hormone Biology Group, Green Life Sciences Cluster, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Alexander Chen
Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Harro Bouwmeester
Plant Hormone Biology Group, Green Life Sciences Cluster, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jos M. Raaijmakers
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Department of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Siobhan Brady
Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Dorota Kawa
Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USAExperimental and Computational Plant Development, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Plant Stress Resilience, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
The root parasitic weed Striga hermonthica has a devastating effect on sorghum and other cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa. Available Striga management strategies are rarely sufficient or not widely accessible or affordable. Identification of soil- or plant-associated microorganisms that interfere in the Striga infection cycle holds potential for development of complementary biological control measures. Such inoculants should be preferably based on microbes native to the regions of their application. We developed a method to assess microbiome-based soil suppressiveness to Striga with a minimal amount of field-collected soil. We previously used this method to identify the mechanisms of microbe-mediated suppression of Striga infection and to test individual microbial strains. Here, we present protocols to assess the functional potential of the soil microbiome and individual bacterial taxa that adversely affect Striga parasitism in sorghum via three major known suppression mechanisms. These methods can be further extended to other Striga hosts and other root parasitic weeds.
