Seed Microbiome Transfer Mitigates Intergenerational Dysbiosis, Modulates Plant Defenses and Suppresses Foliar Disease
- 1University of Florida
Abstract
Antibiotic-induced disruption of plant-associated microbiomes has the potential to alter host health beyond the directly exposed generation, yet whether the effects of dysbiosis are transmitted through the seed microbiome remains unknown. Here, we investigated the intergenerational impacts of streptomycin-induced dysbiosis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), demonstrated that seed microbiome transfer (SMT) restores progeny microbiome function and disease resistance, and characterized the underlying physiological and genetic mechanisms. Parental streptomycin exposure altered the composition of progeny rhizosphere bacterial communities, reduced expression of defense-associated genes, and increased susceptibility to Xanthomonas perforans. Suppression of immune gene expression was strongly associated with increased disease severity, indicating that parental dysbiosis impaired progeny plants ability to mount effective immune responses. Transfer of the seed microbiome from healthy plant donors partially restored rhizosphere community composition, reduced disease severity and recovered defense gene expression of three genes. Together, our findings demonstrated that antibiotic exposure microbiome disturbance generates intergenerational legacy effects that influence plant immunity and disease susceptibility and seed microbiome transfer can counteract this dysbiosis across generations.
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BibTeX
@misc{perina2026seed,
title = {{Seed Microbiome Transfer Mitigates Intergenerational Dysbiosis, Modulates Plant Defenses and Suppresses Foliar Disease}},
author = {F. J. Perina and V. Thomas and T. Ketehouli and S. Mudiyanselage and M. Jain and I. Schlathoelter and E. Goss and S. J. Martins},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.31.747941},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.747941v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Seed Microbiome Transfer Mitigates Intergenerational Dysbiosis, Modulates Plant Defenses and Suppresses Foliar Disease
AU - F. J. Perina
AU - V. Thomas
AU - T. Ketehouli
AU - S. Mudiyanselage
AU - M. Jain
AU - I. Schlathoelter
AU - E. Goss
AU - S. J. Martins
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.31.747941
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.747941v1
AB - Antibiotic-induced disruption of plant-associated microbiomes has the potential to alter host health beyond the directly exposed generation, yet whether the effects of dysbiosis are transmitted through the seed microbiome remains unknown. Here, we investigated the intergenerational impacts of streptomycin-induced dysbiosis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), demonstrated that seed microbiome transfer (SMT) restores progeny microbiome function and disease resistance, and characterized the underlying physiological and genetic mechanisms. Parental streptomycin exposure altered the composition of progeny rhizosphere bacterial communities, reduced expression of defense-associated genes, and increased susceptibility to Xanthomonas perforans. Suppression of immune gene expression was strongly associated with increased disease severity, indicating that parental dysbiosis impaired progeny plants ability to mount effective immune responses. Transfer of the seed microbiome from healthy plant donors partially restored rhizosphere community composition, reduced disease severity and recovered defense gene expression of three genes. Together, our findings demonstrated that antibiotic exposure microbiome disturbance generates intergenerational legacy effects that influence plant immunity and disease susceptibility and seed microbiome transfer can counteract this dysbiosis across generations.
ER -