Just as humans receive the first members of their microbiomes from their mothers, seeds may harbor some of the first microorganisms plants encounter. While these initial microbes could become influential players in the plants' microbiomes, the microbial communities that colonize seeds have not received as much attention as root, shoot, or soil microbiomes. To understand how seed microbiomes are assembled, a group of researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) examined the relative effects of growth environment and plant genotype on the seed microbiome of canola, a globally important crop grown in diverse environments.