Optimal rewilding of crop-bodyguard interactions facilitating the green transformation of agriculture

Chemical pesticides used in agriculture can have enormous negative effects on biodiversity and human well-being.

However, plant resistance and biological control are two alternative methods that together can replace the pesticides.WildCrop aims to develop a completely new concept ("breeding for biological control") to simultaneously optimize plant resistance and microbial biological control.

We will use wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and its main microbial "bodyguard" Aureobasidium pullulans as a model system.We will use an evolutionary approach to map continental biodiversity in wild plant resistance traits and in plant ´bodyguards´ (i.e., A. pullulans) across Europe.

Based on 240 georeferenced plant genotypes and 240 A. pullulans strains collected from across Europe, we will build an evolutionary model with the goal of predicting which biotic and abiotic factors that promote the evolution of relevant traits, including plant resistance to pathogens, facilitation of microbial biological control, and biocontrol efficiency.

Continental variation in antagonistic metabolites produced by the plants and their "bodyguards" will be central to this approach.

Knowledge of habitats with optimal biodiversity can be used to protect these areas and use them to exploit genetic resources for breeding and biological control.