Roadmap for Phytobiomes Research and the International Phytobiomes Consortium

Phytobiomes are all of the living organisms in, on, and around plants, and encompass the many organisms that influence or are influenced by the plant or the plant environment, including the soil.  Phytobiomes, thus, consist of other plants, animals (insects, nematodes and amoeba), and a wide diversity of microbes (viruses, bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, and algae), soil, and the environment.  Modern technologies, such as high-throughput sequencing, computational biology, and many '-omics' technologies, are enabling exploration of the composition, function, and activities of phytobiomes.  The application of these technologies has illustrated a vast potential for exploiting phytobiomes to increase crop production sustainably and improve agroecosystem health.  The Phytobiomes Initiative promotes fundamental and applied research to gain a comprehensive, systems-level understanding of phytobiomes that can be used to improve crop production, quality, and safety.  With input from a wide range of stakeholders, a draft roadmap for phytobiomes research and translation has been developed.  The International Phytobiomes Consortium is a new, public-private collaborative organization focused on coordinating and advancing applied and fundamental phytobiomes research to ensure a sufficient supply of food, feed, and fiber.  The roadmap and the new public-private consortium will be presented.