Mechanistic Insights for Microbiome Application in Plant Disease Resistance

TL;DR

This review explores how plant microbiomes can help plants resist diseases and suggests ways to improve their use in sustainable agriculture.

Contribution

The paper provides a synthesis of mechanisms and challenges in using plant microbiomes for disease resistance and proposes strategies for better application.

Findings

Plant microbiomes can enhance disease resistance through mechanisms like pathogen antagonism and activation of plant defenses.

Genetic and metabolic factors in plants influence microbiome assembly and function.

Challenges include the complexity of plant-microbiome and environment-microbiome interactions.

Abstract

Plant diseases caused by biotic and abiotic stresses pose a great threat to both plant health and yield. Plant microbiomes play a crucial role in improving disease resistance, representing a sustainable approach to enhance crop performance. Plant host factors, including genetic variation, metabolites and microRNA, shape the assembly and function of the plant microbiome, thereby augmenting disease resistance. This interplay presents opportunities for plant‐mediated manipulation of microbiome to promote plant health. Multiple mechanisms are involved in the microbiome‐mediated plant disease resistance, such as direct and indirect pathogen antagonism, niche pre‐emption, alteration of microbiota and activation of plant defences. Nevertheless, the application of plant microbiome in the field remains limited due to the intrinsic complexity of plant–microbiome and environment–microbiome interactions. This review synthesises current knowledge on the roles of plant microbiomes in plant disease resistance. I further summarise the mechanisms underlying plant‐guided microbiome modulation and probiotic‐mediated disease suppression. I also raise work and challenges that should be addressed, with the ultimate goal of informing more efficient microbiome application in sustainable agriculture.

This review summarises the mechanisms underlying plant‐guided microbiome modulation and probiotic‐mediated disease suppression. Additionally, it highlights the challenges to be addressed for a better microbiome application of disease resistance in sustainable agriculture and proposes possible strategies. Figure was created with BioRender.

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