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Deterministic Recruitment Limitation during Soybean Pod Development Shapes Seed-Transmitted Microbiota Assembly
Da-Ran Kim1, Min Seong Seok2, Young Min Ko2
1Horticultural and Herbal Crop Environment Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Wanju 55365, Republic of Korea.
The ISME Journal
|July 15, 2026
Summary
Plant seed development shapes the beneficial microbes passed between generations. Specific pod stages act as a bottleneck, selecting for a "guardian" microbiota that enhances plant resilience and health.
Area of Science:
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Microbial ecology
- Crop science
Background:
- Transgenerational inheritance of plant microbiota is crucial for host fitness.
- The ecological processes governing microbial assembly from flower to seed are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the soybean microbiota dynamics across developmental stages.
- To identify critical seed-pod stages influencing endophyte recruitment.
- To understand the functional roles of the seed microbiota in plant resilience.
Main Methods:
- Spatiotemporal analysis of soybean microbiota.
- Functional characterization of microbial communities.
- Defined microbial community assays.
- Anatomical studies of the soybean endocarp.
Main Results:
- The floral stage is a high-diversity recruitment phase dominated by stochastic processes.
- Pod enclosure creates a deterministic bottleneck, shifting the microbiota to a specialized "guardian" community.
- Keystone taxa exhibit niche partitioning and functional complementarity, conferring collective resilience.
- The soybean endocarp serves as an interface for maternal microbe redistribution to the seed.
Conclusions:
- Specific seed-pod stages act as a critical bottleneck for endophyte recruitment.
- The soybean microbiota provides resilience against salinity stress and pathogen infection.
- Findings define a "transmission window" for microbiota-based crop improvement strategies.
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