Coevolution of plant-microbe interactions, friend-foe continuum, and microbiome engineering for a sustainable future.
Shelake RM, Waghunde RR, Kim JY
Soil Health
PubMedMicrobes living in your garden soil are in a constant, ancient negotiation with your plants — and understanding those rules could mean healthier vegetables, less chemical fertilizer, and more resilient plants in a changing climate.
Plants and the tiny organisms in the soil — bacteria, fungi, and others — have been evolving together for nearly half a billion years, sometimes helping each other and sometimes fighting. This review pulls together what scientists have learned about how those relationships work and what tips them from helpful to harmful. The big payoff is a roadmap for using that knowledge to breed crops that partner better with soil life, need less synthetic fertilizer, and fight off disease without as many pesticides.
Key Findings
Plant-microbe partnerships have been shaping life on land for approximately 450 million years, with ancient events like the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts setting the template for how plants manage microbial relationships today.
Four key factors — host genetics, microbial genetics, environmental conditions, and metabolic signals — act as switches that determine whether a microbe behaves as a friend or foe to a plant, offering specific targets for bioengineering.
The review identifies near-term actionable strategies including engineering nitrogen-fixing microbial communities and editing plant immune receptors, alongside longer-term goals using AI and synthetic biology to breed crops with optimized microbiomes.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have mapped 450 million years of plant-microbe relationships to build a practical blueprint for designing better crops — ones that work with soil microbes to grow with less fertilizer and resist disease more sustainably.
Abstract Preview
The coevolution of plant-microbe (PM) associations over approximately 450 million years has been a fundamental driver of terrestrial life, giving rise to mutualistic, commensal, and pathogenic rela...
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