Exploring Seed Microbial Diversity and its Impact on Plant Fitness using Synthetic Communities by Marie SIMONIN

Abstract: Seed microbiota serve as critical drivers of plant microbiome assembly and establishment, yet the relative contributions of different microbial taxa and the mechanisms underlying seed-to-plant transmission remain poorly understood. Using synthetic communities (SynComs) as experimental tools, we have dissected the transmission dynamics of seed-derived microorganisms and their functional impacts on early plant development and growth. Our work demonstrates that SynCom inoculation on seeds effectively manipulates and tracks microbial colonization across distinct plant compartments and developmental stages. During this talk, I will present different strategies to design, monitor and assess the effects of synthetic communities, providing examples from seeds but that are transferable to other ecosystems. 

Biography: Marie Simonin is a INRAE researcher working at the Research Institute in Horticulture and Seeds (IRHS, Angers, France). She studies plant microbiota assembly and transgenerational transmission through seeds using a synthetic ecology approach. Based on multi-kingdom synthetic community inoculations on seeds, her group develops plant microbiota engineering to promote beneficial interactions and improve plant health. 

Marie SIMONIN is a INRAE researcher, more details -> Marie Simonin