Coevolution of the microbiome with its host plant supports environmental adaptation
27 January, 2026
All plants are holobionts: they survive and thrive thanks to complex interactions with their associated microbial communities, or ‘microbiomes’. KAUST researchers have shown for the first time that a specific gene in the host genome shapes the seed microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana plants, so that they can grow in low pH, iron-rich soils.
“There have been many studies on microbiomes in different parts of plants – in the roots, leaves and fruits – but little is known about the seed microbiome, which is where each plant begins its life,” says postdoc Sabiha Parween, who worked on the project under the supervision of Heribert Hirt. “We wanted to understand if the host genome inside the plant helps to shape the composition of the seed microbiome, and if so, how it does this.”