The use of synthetic microbial communities to improve plant health
The use of synthetic microbial communities to improve plant health
Despite the numerous benefits plants receive from probiotics, maintaining consistent results across applications is still a challenge. Cultivation-independent methods associated with reduced sequencing costs have considerably improved the overall understanding of microbial ecology in the plant environment. As a result, now, it is possible to engineer a consortium of microbes aiming for improved plant health. Such synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) contain carefully chosen microbial species to produce the desired microbiome function. Microbial biofilm formation, production of secondary metabolites, and ability to induce plant resistance are some of the microbial traits to consider when designing SynComs. Plant-associated microbial communities are not assembled randomly. Ecological theories suggest that these communities have a defined phylogenetic organization structured by general community assembly rules. Using machine learning, we can study these rules and target microbial functions that generate desired plant phenotypes. Well-structured assemblages are more likely to lead to a stable SynCom that thrives under environmental stressors as compared with the classical selection of single microbial activities or taxonomy. However, ensuring microbial colonization and long-term plant phenotype stability is still one of the challenges to overcome with SynComs, as the synthetic community may change over time with microbial horizontal gene transfer and retained mutations. Here, we explored the advances made in SynCom research regarding plant health, focusing on bacteria, as they are the most dominant microbial form compared with other members of the microbiome and the most commonly found in SynCom studies.
biofilm, biosis, dysbiosis, food security, induced systemic resistance (ISR), inoculants, microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs), microbiome, phytobiome, plant growth promoting (PGP), plant-bacteria interaction, eubiosis
1369-1379
Martins, Samuel J.
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Pasche, Josephine
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Silva, Hiago Antonio O.
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Selten, Gijs
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Savastano, Noah
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Abreu, Lucas Magalhães
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Bais, Harsh P.
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Garrett, Karen A.
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Kraisitudomsook, Nattapol
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Pieterse, Corné M.J.
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Cernava, Tomislav
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20 September 2023
Martins, Samuel J.
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Pasche, Josephine
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Silva, Hiago Antonio O.
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Selten, Gijs
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Savastano, Noah
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Abreu, Lucas Magalhães
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Bais, Harsh P.
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Garrett, Karen A.
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Kraisitudomsook, Nattapol
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Pieterse, Corné M.J.
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Cernava, Tomislav
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Martins, Samuel J., Pasche, Josephine, Silva, Hiago Antonio O., Selten, Gijs, Savastano, Noah, Abreu, Lucas Magalhães, Bais, Harsh P., Garrett, Karen A., Kraisitudomsook, Nattapol, Pieterse, Corné M.J. and Cernava, Tomislav
(2023)
The use of synthetic microbial communities to improve plant health.
Phytopathology, 113 (8), .
(doi:10.1094/PHYTO-01-23-0016-IA).
Abstract
Despite the numerous benefits plants receive from probiotics, maintaining consistent results across applications is still a challenge. Cultivation-independent methods associated with reduced sequencing costs have considerably improved the overall understanding of microbial ecology in the plant environment. As a result, now, it is possible to engineer a consortium of microbes aiming for improved plant health. Such synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) contain carefully chosen microbial species to produce the desired microbiome function. Microbial biofilm formation, production of secondary metabolites, and ability to induce plant resistance are some of the microbial traits to consider when designing SynComs. Plant-associated microbial communities are not assembled randomly. Ecological theories suggest that these communities have a defined phylogenetic organization structured by general community assembly rules. Using machine learning, we can study these rules and target microbial functions that generate desired plant phenotypes. Well-structured assemblages are more likely to lead to a stable SynCom that thrives under environmental stressors as compared with the classical selection of single microbial activities or taxonomy. However, ensuring microbial colonization and long-term plant phenotype stability is still one of the challenges to overcome with SynComs, as the synthetic community may change over time with microbial horizontal gene transfer and retained mutations. Here, we explored the advances made in SynCom research regarding plant health, focusing on bacteria, as they are the most dominant microbial form compared with other members of the microbiome and the most commonly found in SynCom studies.
Text
The Use of Synthetic Microbial Communities (SynComs) for Plant Health
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 February 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 March 2023
Published date: 20 September 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Funding: Support was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project 1024881, the Novo Nordisk Foundation (project InRoot), NWO Gravitation Programme MiCRop “Harnessing the second genome of plants” (grant 024.004.014), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (grant FF-NIA19-0000000050).
Funding Information:
Support was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project 1024881, the Novo Nordisk Foundation (project InRoot),NWOGravitation Programme MiCRop “Harnessing the second genome of plants” (grant 024.004.014), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (grant FF-NIA19-0000000050). We thank UF/IFAS Communications and the Graphic Designer Heather Griffith for designing Figure 2.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The American Phytopathological Society.
Keywords:
biofilm, biosis, dysbiosis, food security, induced systemic resistance (ISR), inoculants, microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs), microbiome, phytobiome, plant growth promoting (PGP), plant-bacteria interaction, eubiosis
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 483853
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483853
ISSN: 0031-949X
PURE UUID: 94c02d21-5b13-4846-bb5c-ccd51c37b81b
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Date deposited: 07 Nov 2023 17:40
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:10
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Contributors
Author:
Samuel J. Martins
Author:
Josephine Pasche
Author:
Hiago Antonio O. Silva
Author:
Gijs Selten
Author:
Noah Savastano
Author:
Lucas Magalhães Abreu
Author:
Harsh P. Bais
Author:
Karen A. Garrett
Author:
Nattapol Kraisitudomsook
Author:
Corné M.J. Pieterse
Author:
Tomislav Cernava
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