PubMed · 2026-02-14
When a devastating soil pathogen infects cabbage-family vegetables, it hijacks the plant's own chemistry to wipe out the beneficial bacteria that would otherwise fight the disease — creating a vicious cycle that makes infection worse.
Beneficial bacteria from the Rhizobiaceae family were significantly more abundant in healthy plants than diseased ones, and one strain (Rhizobium sp. 25F3) showed strong disease-suppressing activity when added to soil.
Two specific phenolic acid compounds produced by infected plants were shown to both inhibit the growth of beneficial Rhizobiaceae bacteria and accelerate Plasmodiophora brassicae infection simultaneously.
Genes responsible for phenolic acid production were upregulated in diseased roots, confirming that the plant's own stress response inadvertently fuels the pathogen's success by dismantling its microbial defenses.
