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，两种遗传多样性的近交系交配会导致产量大幅提高。这导致了雇佣加拿大人的种子公司。杂交优势的潜力尚未在玉米、大豆、小麦、其他作物和牲畜中充分实现，因为其潜在的生物学基础尚未完全理解--它仍然是遗传学的圣杯。一个以前从未探索过的理论是，杂种优势可能部分是由植物微生物组的变化引起的。我们假设微生物组可能通过花粉/卵从父母那里遗传到（杂交）种子中。因此，当两个亲本交配时，两个不同/竞争的微生物组第一次相遇（在种子中），导致有益细菌的获得/损失。我们建议将不同的近交系交配在一起，分析后代微生物组，然后将微生物遗传与产量和镰刀菌病抗性相关联。2018年，由于镰刀菌产生DON霉菌毒素（呕吐毒素），导致安大略玉米产量损失40%，破坏了农民的利润。呕吐毒素在350 ℃下是热稳定的，并被证明可以进入食物链（例如儿童谷物），因此在加拿大受到管制。在这个时代，防止呕吐毒素到达脆弱人群可能至关重要，因为它抑制人/动物免疫力，降低病毒免疫力，加剧病毒性支气管肺炎并降低动物模型中的疫苗有效性。与我们的合作伙伴，安大略谷物农民（GFO），短期内，我们希望确定一个可遗传的微生物财团，保护加拿大（Cdn）玉米：增加谷物产量>5%，减少呕吐毒素> 10%。我们还建议有助于呕吐毒素的敏感性诊断新的玉米杂交种的存在/不存在的抗镰刀菌微生物的基础上。这将改善CDN玉米出口，并在这个不确定的时期将农民利润提高1亿美元，同时确保牲畜，CDN消费者和缺乏杀菌剂的贫穷国家的粮食供应更安全。从长远来看，这项研究可以催化新型作物育种，其中育种者使用微生物标记直接选择优良细菌的稳定遗传，从而导致农业的下一个飞跃。

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.