probiotics
Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms—such as bacteria and fungi—that enhance the health and development of their plant hosts through colonization of tissues and soil environments. These plant-associated microbes improve nutrient uptake, strengthen disease resistance, and promote growth through mutualistic relationships with their plant partners. Harnessing these microbial communities represents an important frontier in plant biology research for developing sustainable agricultural practices and increasing crop productivity.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-02-18
This is not a plant science article—it's microbiology research on infant gut bacteria. Researchers studied 4,000+ bacterial genomes and found that probiotic strains widely used in wealthy countries may not be optimal for infants in developing nations, where geographic variants of these bacteria are naturally dominant and adapted to local diets.
Global genomic atlas of 4,000+ Bifidobacterium genomes from 48 countries increased LMIC representation by 12-17 fold, enabling better regional strain selection
B. infantis dominates infant microbiota in low- and middle-income countries but is rarely detected in high-income countries, suggesting geographic adaptation
Bacterial strains show biogeographic stratification with predicted adaptations to plant-glycan-rich diets and breast-milk components, enabling precision probiotic design