Illusive and often overlooked, the microbiome is often referred to as the 2nd genome of plants, due to the discovery of its profound impact on plant fitness. The microbiome consists of the soil surrounding the roots of plants with the bacteria, viruses and fungi it contains. Last week, I, along with over 20 others from UC Davis, visited a company harnessing the beneficial powers of the microbiome: Bioconsortia.

Bioconsortia are a small venture capital company based in Davis developing microbial products for improving plant performance.

Selecting a microbiome community for plant performance

On arrival we were greeted by Dr Graham Hymus (the Director of Plant Biology) who introduced us to the company’s ethos and the methods they are using to develop microbial seed treatments for plant performance. At the heart of the company is their use of the technique Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS).

Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS):

1. Collect diverse soil samples and plant your crop of interest in these soil samples.
2. Dig up plants, remove the root system and isolate microbiome of each crop. Select the best plants – by phenotyping traits associated with plant health.
3. Re-inoculate more plants with the microbiome associated with the healthiest/highest yielding plants from the previous experiment.
4. Repeat: continue to select the best performing plants, isolate the microbiome from the soil surrounding their roots, inoculate and grow the crop with this microbiome.

Following several rounds of this technique generates a community of soil microbes that are optimal for enhancing the growth and health of the crop plant. These treatments are taken for use in greenhouse trials with different crops, and those with several modes of action can be taken for field trials.

An important aspect of Bioconsortia’s treatments is that they utilize a microbiome community composed of multiple species, rather than single-species treatments. This replicates the natural soil community that these plants grow in and may be the secret to generating the highest yields in the field. Bioconsortia have an extensive library of 65,000 microbe strains and thus they can generate treatments with several different combinations of beneficial microbes and compare their effectiveness.

21st century phenotyping and Dr Sven Nelson – plants meet engineering

To date, phenotyping plants for traits associated with plant performance at Bioconsortia has focused on the above-ground leafy structures. Current technologies being harnessed include using Raspberry Pi’s, drones and PlantEye to monitor plant growth, leaf area, colour, disease etc. In 2019, the company is looking to expand into analysing the root structures of these plants, which are evidently very important when considering plant-microbe interactions.

Next we heard from Dr Sven Nelson, one of the brains behind the phenotyping technologies used at Bioconsortia. Although originally focused on plant biology, he also explored a passion for engineering during his studies. Later, he merged his two passions whilst working on water stress in roots and developed the Rootbot, an automated system for growing and imaging roots in a controlled growth chamber. With Bioconsortia’s next steps in exploring root phenotyping, innovative members like Sven will no doubt develop more exciting systems for root imaging in the future.

Mark Yacoub – the science of selecting fungi

The last presentation of the afternoon was given by Mark Yacoub, a microbiology research associate working on fungi. Often when we think of fungi we think of mushrooms (the fruiting body of a fungus) or perhaps harmful pathogens and mould, but fungi can also be beneficial by conferring a protective effect against plant pathogens and increasing nutrient availability.

Mark’s talk gave more detail to the scientific process behind studying beneficial fungi. Firstly Mark selects, isolates and ID’s fungi of interest. Next, their ability to increase nutrient availability is measured. Phosphate is one important limiting compound for plants that isn’t very bioavailable in soils and so is usually applied in fertilisers. However, fertiliser application creates environmental problems so finding fungi that are efficient at naturally solubilising phosphate to more accessible forms for plants is important.

The value of University-industry collaborations

From my visit, it was evident the value of working within a small venture capital company. Employees have the freedom to work in multiple different facets of the company as well as providing scope for collaboration to help the company grow. I also found the trip valuable for my own research on phosphate use efficiency in watercress, which will involve developing root phenotyping methods.

Bioconsortia also commented on the value of such trips - “BioConsortia enjoyed the visit of UCD students facilitated by Seed Central. It provided further confirmation of the reciprocal benefits that can come from sharing our industry perspective with the informed student body at UCD. We look forward to further visits.”

Thanks to Seed Central and the Plant Breeding Center here at UC Davis for organizing the trip. I’m excited to see what 2019 holds for Bioconsortia.