** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** UNDERSTANDING A PLANT'S SOIL MICROBIOME IS CRITICAL FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AS MICROBES PROVIDE ESSENTIAL SERVICES IN THE PROMOTION OF PLANT HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY, AS WELL AS PLANT RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE.THE LOSS OF PLANT GENETIC DIVERSITY THROUGH THE DOMESTICATION PROCESS HAS BEEN HYPOTHESIZED TO HAVE NEGATIVELY SHAPED PLANT MICROBIOME DIVERSITY AND FUNCTIONALITY, AND AS A RESULT, DOMESTICATED PLANTS HAVE LOST TOLERANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS AND EMERGING PATHOGENS COMPARED WITH THEIR WILD RELATIVES. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS WORK IS TO UNDERSTAND THE FACTORS THAT DRIVE PLANT MICROBIOME RECRUITMENT IN THE FIELD AND DETERMINE THE GENES INVOLVED IN PLANTS THAT CAN SELECT MORE BENEFICIAL MICROBIOMES THAT ARE MORE STABLE ACROSS CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS.THIS PROJECT USES AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH BY COMBINING MOLECULAR AND ECOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES INCLUDING A FIELD-BASED EXPERIMENT, GENOMIC SEQUENCING, AND COMMUNITY-WIDE MODELING TO ASSESS THE COMPOSITION, FUNCTIONALITY, AND STABILITY (RESILIENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBANCE) OF MICROBIOMES FROM BOTH DOMESTICATED AND WILD CITRUS LINEAGES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO ANALYZE PLANT TRANSCRIPTOMIC SIGNALING INFORMATION DURING EARLY MICROBIAL RECRUITMENT TO IDENTIFY CANDIDATE GENE TARGETS THAT UNDERPIN A MORE STABLE AND BENEFICIAL CITRUS MICROBIOME. IT WILL CONNECT PLANT IMPACT ON MICROBIOME RECRUITMENT TO THE UNDERLYING GOVERNING GENES WHICH IS CRITICAL FOR DEVELOPING A MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW BENEFICIAL MICROBIOMES FORM AND TO SUPPORT FUTURE GENOME-LED BREEDING EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CROPS TO THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL AND PATHOGENIC CHALLENGES.