Maladaptation in cereal crop landraces following a soot-producing climate catastrophe.

Aerosol-producing global catastrophes such as nuclear war, super-volcano eruption, or asteroid strike, although rare, pose a serious threat to human survival. Light-absorbing aerosols would sharply reduce temperature and solar radiation reaching the earth's surface, decreasing crop productivity including for locally adapted traditional crop varieties, i.e.

The ancestral environment of teosinte populations shapes their root microbiome.

Background: The composition of the root microbiome affects the host's growth, with variation in the host genome associated with microbiome variation. However, it is not known whether this intra-specific variation of root microbiomes is a consequence of plants performing targeted manipulations of them to adapt to their local environment or varying passively with other traits. To explore the relationship between the genome, environment and microbiome, we sampled seeds from teosinte populations across its native range in Mexico.

Seedling root system adaptation to water availability during maize domestication and global expansion.

The maize root system has been reshaped by indirect selection during global adaptation to new agricultural environments. In this study, we characterized the root systems of more than 9,000 global maize accessions and its wild relatives, defining the geographical signature and genomic basis of variation in seminal root number. We demonstrate that seminal root number has increased during maize domestication followed by a decrease in response to limited water availability in locally adapted varieties.

Heritable microbiome variation is correlated with source environment in locally adapted maize varieties.

Beneficial interactions with microorganisms are pivotal for crop performance and resilience. However, it remains unclear how heritable the microbiome is with respect to the host plant genotype and to what extent host genetic mechanisms can modulate plant-microbiota interactions in the face of environmental stresses. Here we surveyed 3,168 root and rhizosphere microbiome samples from 129 accessions of locally adapted Zea, sourced from diverse habitats and grown under control and different stress conditions.

Evidence that variation in root anatomy contributes to local adaptation in Mexican native maize.

Mexican native maize ( ssp. ) is adapted to a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. Here, we focus specifically on the potential role of root anatomical variation in this adaptation.