Agaves are plants native to North America that sustain life in arid and semi-arid ecosystems.
Previous studies revealed that cultivated plants of Agave tequilana had lower microbial diversity and functionality compared to wild species. Here, we tested if microbiome-inspired phyllospheric synthetic communities, based on microbial hubs or enriched phyllospheric microbial functions, could increase microbial diversity and plant fitness in A. tequilana.
We applied seven functional and three random syncoms on one-year-old plants of A. tequilana in the field and monitored their development for two years. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the composition and diversity of the phyllospheric prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities associated with A. tequilana were affected by the season, with greatest diversity observed during the dry months. The addition of functional syncoms promoted phyllospheric microbial communities with a higher diversity, greater capacity to consume carbon sources, and more integrated and complex networks. Additionally, plants treated with functional syncoms had an increased content of sugars (oBrix, a measure of productivity in agaves) in the stems, and higher leaf metabolic diversity.
Our work demonstrates that inoculation of syncoms formulated based on functional analyses of microbiome data represents an effective biotechnological tool to improve the sustainability and productivity of crops of arid ecosystems.