NO PLANT LIVES IN ISOLATION. PLANTS THEMSELVES HARBOR AND REGULATE MANY MICROBES ALONG THEIR ROOT SURFACE. MAINTENANCE OF THIS RELATIONSHIP CAN AID THE PLANT'S RESILIENCY IN TIMES OF STRESS SUCH AS DISEASE, DROUGHT, OR LACK OF NUTRIENTS. THE KEY IS THE TYPE OF MICROBES THAT THE PLANT MAINTAINS. HOWEVER, THE MICROBIAL SPECIES MAINTAINED BY THE PLANT REMAIN RELATIVELY UNKNOWN AND BENEFITS UNCLEAR. WE DO KNOW, WE CAN CHANGE MICROBIAL SPECIES LIVING ON THE PLANT BY GENETICALLY ALTERING THE PLANT ITSELF. THE MOST IMPORTANT OF EXAMPLE SUCH A DRAMATIC GENETIC CHANGE IS CROP DOMESTICATION. AS A RESULT, CROP DOMESTICATION, IN OUR CASE POTATOES, MAY HAVE UNDERLYING EFFECTS ON PLANT'S MICROBIAL RELATIONS AND THE RECIEVED BENEFITS. HENCE, WE NEED TO DECIPHER: WHAT MICROBES ARE THERE, WHAT THEY DO FOR THE PLANT, AND HOW THEY ARE IMPACTED BY CROP DOMESTICATION. DECIPHERING HOW POTATO DOMESTICATION AFFECTS THEIR MICROBIAL RELATIONSHIP CAN AID AGRICULTURE FOR INCREASING POTATO YIELD, AND MAINTAINING FOOD SECURITY ON OUR GROWING PLANET WHILE REDUCING FERTILIZER AND PESTICIDE USAGE.TO TACKLE OUR PROBLEM, WE PLAN ON SELECTING FOR BENEFICIAL AND DETRIMENTAL SOILS MICROBES THROUGH A SERIES OF GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS. EACH SERIES OF GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENT CONTAINS REPLICATES OF POTTED POTATO PLANTS OF WILD, SEMI-WILD, AND DOMESTICATED GENETIC BACKGROUND. DOING SO, WE CAN EXAMINE INCREASED POTATO PLANT HEALTH AS A RESPONSE TO SOIL MICROBES PRESENT ACROSS POTATO DOMESTICATION HISTORY. IN PARALLEL, WE ARE ALSO COLLECTING FIELD SOIL FROM VARIOUS POTATO FARMS. WORKING WITH FARMERS, WE OBTAINED YIELD AND POTATO HEALTH DATA. WE AIM TO COMPLEMENT THE TWO STUDIES, LOOKING AT CONSISTENT BIOLOGICAL MICROBIAL CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN OUR GREENHOUSE AND SOIL SURVEY DATA USING A DNA SEQUENCING APPROACH. THE APPROACH WILL ALLOW US TO EXAMINE AND DRAW CONCLUSIONS ON MICROBIAL PRESENCE, FUNCTION, AND CHANGES LINKED TO INCREASING POTATO YIELD AND PLANT HEALTH. ULTIMATELY, WE HOPE OUR FINDINGS WILL INFORM FARMERS SCIENTIFICALLY BACKED EVIDENCE ON FARM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES THAT CAN NURTURE POTATO BOOSTING MICROBES AND GENETIC BASIS FOR PLANT BREEDERS TO DEVELOP MORE RESILIENT HIGHER YIELDING POTATO CROPS.