Understanding the contribution of the inherited microbiome to corn yield and immunity-suppressing vomitoxin

杂交优势的发现改变了20世纪的玉米种植，这是一种神秘的现象，两个遗传多样性的自交系交配会显著提高产量。这导致了雇佣加拿大人的种子公司。在玉米、大豆、小麦、其他农作物和家畜中，杂交优势的潜力尚未完全实现，因为潜在的生物学基础还没有完全被理解--它仍然是遗传学的圣杯。一种以前从未探索过的理论是，杂交优势可能部分是由植物微生物组的变异造成的。我们假设，微生物群可能通过花粉/卵遗传到(杂交)种子中，从父母那里遗传。因此，当双亲交配时，两个截然不同/相互竞争的微生物群第一次(在种子中)相遇，导致有益细菌的得失。我们建议将不同的自交系交配在一起，分析后代的微生物群，然后将微生物遗传与产量和镰刀菌抗病性联系起来。2018年，镰刀菌导致安大略省玉米产量损失40%，原因是它产生了DON真菌毒素(呕吐毒素)，摧毁了农民的利润。呕吐毒素对350摄氏度的温度稳定，可以进入食物链(如儿童谷类食品)，因此加拿大对其进行了监管。在这个时代，防止呕吐毒素接触到脆弱人群可能是至关重要的，因为它会抑制人/动物的免疫，降低病毒免疫力，加剧病毒性支气管肺炎，并降低动物模型的疫苗效力。与我们的合作伙伴安大略省谷物农民(GFO)合作，短期内，我们希望找到一种可遗传的微生物联盟来保护加拿大(Cdn)玉米：将谷物产量提高5%，并将呕吐毒素减少10%。我们还建议基于抗镰刀菌的存在/不存在来为新的玉米杂交种的呕吐毒素敏感性诊断做出贡献。这将改善加拿大玉米出口，使农民在这个不确定的时期增加1亿美元的利润，同时确保为牲畜、加拿大玉米消费者和缺乏杀菌剂的贫穷国家提供更安全的粮食供应。从长远来看，这项研究可能会催化新的作物育种，即育种者使用微生物标记直接选择良好细菌的稳定遗传，从而导致农业的下一次重大飞跃。

Corn farming in the 20th-Century was transformed by the discovery of hybrid vigour, the mysterious phenomenon wherein mating of two genetically-diverse inbreds causes dramatic yield boosts. This led to seed companies that employ Canadians. The potential of hybrid vigour has yet to be fully realized in corn, soy, wheat, other crops & livestock, because the underlying biological basis is incompletely understood --it remains the Holy Grail of genetics. One theory never before explored is that hybrid vigour may be partially caused by variation in the plant microbiome. We hypothesize that microbiomes may be variably inherited from parents through pollen/eggs into (hybrid) seeds. Thus, when two parents mate, two distinct/competing microbiomes are meeting each other for the first time (in seed), causing gain/loss of good bacteria. We propose to mate diverse inbreds together, profile offspring microbiomes, then correlate microbial inheritance with yield & Fusarium disease resistance. Fusarium caused 40% yield losses to corn in Ontario in 2018, due to its production of DON mycotoxin (vomitoxin), devastating farmer profits. Vomitoxin is heat-stable to 350C & shown to enter the food chain (e.g. kid's cereal) & hence it is regulated in Canada. Preventing vomitoxin from reaching vulnerable people may be critical in this era, because it suppresses human/animal immunity, reduces viral immunity, exacerbates viral bronchopneumonia & reduces vaccine effectiveness in animal models. With our partner, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), short-term, we hope to identify one heritable microbial consortium that protects Canadian (Cdn) corn: increases grain yield by >5% & decreases vomitoxin by >10%. We also propose to contribute to a vomitoxin susceptibility diagnostic for new corn hybrids based on the presence/absence of anti-Fusarium microbes. This will improve Cdn corn exports & improve farmer profits by $100 million at this uncertain time, while ensuring safer supplies of grain for livestock, Cdn consumers & poor nations lacking fungicides. Long-term, this research could catalyze novel crop breeding, wherein breeders directly select for stable inheritance of good bacteria using microbial markers, leading to the next great leap in agriculture.