Parental effects can be transmitted through the rhizosphere microbiome

Parental exposure to interspecific competition in Phragmites australis shifts offspring rhizosphere bacterial and fungal community structure, linked to altered offspring functional phenotypes.

• Why it matters: It is unclear whether plant parental effects transmit environmental cues only directly or also by reshaping the rhizosphere microbiome that can influence growth and traits.
• What they did: Eight Phragmites australis genotypes were grown with or without interspecific competition, and offspring phenotype plus rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities were assessed in a common environment. Structural equation models tested whether microbiome changes related to offspring phenotypes.
• The result: Competition reduced plant growth in a genotype-specific way, while parental competition shifted offspring toward a more conservative resource strategy and altered microbiome diversity and structure, which may have driven some phenotype changes.

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