Domestication in wheat affects its rhizobiome recruitment capacity: a review

Human domestication of grasses has been pivotal to human civilization as a main caloric source, however this has come at the expense of decreased genetic diversity. As plants evolved alongside a plethora of microorganisms, some of them critical to plant growth and health, domesticated plants demonstrate consistently changed rhizobiomes, along with lowered tolerance to stress. In the last few decades, the interest in specific beneficial microorganisms to staple crops has been growing gradually, due to improved high-output data techniques, extensive research, and rising concerns on the production of enough food for a growing world population undergoing world climate change. Here, we review how wheat domestication trade-off effects may have impacted the recruitment of an ideal rhizobiome assembly, describe known wheat-specific beneficial species of both fungi and bacteria, and propose the exploration of wild relatives and indigenous species for identification and reinstatement of beneficial microbial interactions that may have been lost through the effects of domestication.