Host Drivers

Our aim is to understand and quantify how genetic differences between radiata pine trees influence the microbiome assembly on tree-roots.
We want to answer questions such as:

• Which microbes are under host-genetic selection, and which microbes are insensitive to the host-genetics? Are host-selected microbes those that confer new traits?
• How strong is the trees genetic basis of microbial association? What is the breeding value for this trait?
• Is there potential for the microbiome to be inherited during vertical transfer of the pollen from one plant to the next?
• Is the microbiome of Pinus radiata unique compared with other pine and conifer species? Is there phylosymbiosis of the microbiome and the tree?
• Can the microbiome established on the root during growth in the nursery continue to be associated with the host when moved to the field. How strong are historic contingency influences and what drives ecological drift and change in microbiome association?

• Using existing Pinus radiata structured breeding traits to quantify the importance of host genotype on influencing root microbiome associations.
• Using existing nursery plant-out trials to quantify the extent of root microbiome change, and quantify stochastic processes such as ecological drift compared with deterministic influences such as environmental filtering.
• Undertaking greenhouse studies to determine if phylosymbiosis occurs between different podocarp spp. and their root microbiomes
• Determining if the Pinus radiata pollen has a microbiome and, if so, what species are core (always present) members of the ‘pollen-biome’ and which are random or conditionally present?