Just as a piece of music is not solely dependent on the instrument or the musician but on how they work together to create harmony, the health or function of an organism is influenced by the dynamic interplay between its host and the diverse community of microorganisms inhabiting it. As such, this Research Area aims to look at the interaction between the host tree and its microbiome, and how the interaction alters the phenotype of the tree to drought tolerance.
  • We are investigating if root microbiomes that have naturally adapted to drought in the environment can confer ‘ecological memory’ of drought tolerance to a naïve host tree. This work is being undertaken with programme partners at the Adelaide Plant Phenotyping Facility (APPF), Australia.
  • To determine if root microbiomes can be ‘trained’ to be tolerant to drought via exposure to successive water stress limitation. This work is being conducted at the New Zealand Biotron facility with Partners at Lincoln University.
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