Hidden bacteria inside a fungus make it deadlier to tomatoes
Zhou X, Zhang X, Ran L, Liu D, Jia H
Soil Health
If you've ever lost tomato plants to wilting for no clear reason, this research shows the culprit fungus may be getting secret backup from bacteria living inside it that silently disable the good soil microbes meant to protect your plants.
Researchers found that a fungus causing tomato wilt disease has its own tiny bacterial passengers living inside its cells, kind of like a parasite within a parasite. These bacterial hitchhikers push the fungus to make a chemical weapon that kills off helpful bacteria in the soil, the same bacteria that would normally protect tomato roots from disease. It's a sneaky three-way battle happening right under the soil surface, and the fungus is winning by getting outside help.
Key Findings
Achromobacter bacteria living inside Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) fungal cells enhance the fungus's ability to cause tomato wilt disease
Endosymbiont-harboring FOL reshapes the rhizosphere bacterial community and reduces abundance of disease-suppressive Streptomyces bacteria during infection
The suppression is driven by endosymbiont-stimulated production of beauvericin, an antibacterial compound made by the fungus
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered that bacteria living inside a tomato-killing fungus help the fungus win by producing a toxin that wipes out protective soil bacteria near plant roots. This three-way sabotage explains why some fungal infections are harder to stop than expected.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Bacterial endosymbionts enhance fungal virulence by disrupting the disease-suppressive rhizobiome.
The mechanisms by which bacterial endosymbionts (bacteria living within fungal cells) enhance the fitness and virulence of fungal pathogens remain poorly understood. Here, we report that the tomato...
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