Background By 2050, the world population will increase to 10 billion which urged global demand for food production to double. Plant disease and land drought will make the situation more dire, and safer and environment-friendly materials are thus considered as a new countermeasure. The rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, causes one of the most destructive diseases of cultivated rice worldwide that seriously threatens rice production. Unfortunately, traditional breeding nor chemical approaches along control it well. Nowadays, nanotechnology stands as a new weapon against these mounting challenges and silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) have been considered as potential new safer agrochemicals recently but the systematically studies remain limited, especially in rice. Results Salicylic acid (SA) is a key plant hormone essential for establishing plant resistance to several pathogens and its further affected a special form of induced resistance, the systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which considered as an important aspect of plant innate immunity from the locally induced disease resistance to the whole plant. Here we showed that SiO2 NPs could stimulate plant immunity to protect rice against M. oryzae through foliar treatment that significantly decreased disease severity by nearly 70% within an appropriate concentration range. Excessive concentration of foliar treatment led to disordered intake and abnormal SA responsive genes expressions which weaken the plant resistance and even aggravated the disease. Importantly, this SA-dependent fungal resistance could achieve better results with root treatment through a SAR manner with no phytotoxicity since the orderly and moderate absorption. What’s more, root treatment with SiO2 NPs could also promote root development which was better to deal with drought. Conclusions Taken together, our findings not only revealed SiO2 NPs as a potential effective and safe strategy to protect rice against biotic and abiotic stresses, but also identify root treatment for the appropriate application method since it seems not causing negative effects and even have promotion on root development. Graphical Abstract

Continuous cropping obstacles have increasingly become an important phenomenon affecting crop yield and quality. Its harm includes the deterioration of soil basic physical and chemical properties, changes of soil microbial community structure, accumulation of autotoxins, weakness of plant growth, and aggravation of diseases and pests. In this review, the evolutionary trend of soil microbial structure driven by continuous cropping was generalized, while drivers of these changes summed up as destruction of soil microbial living environment and competition within the community. We introduced a microorganism proliferation and working model with three basics and a vector, and four corresponding effective measures to reshape the structure were comprehensively expounded. According to the model, we also put forward three optimization strategies of the existing measures. In which, synthetic microbiology provides a new solution for improving soil community structure. Meanwhile, to ensure the survival and reproduction of soil microorganisms, it is necessary to consider their living space and carbon sources in soil fully. This review provided a comprehensive perspective for understanding the evolutionary trend of the soil microbial community under continuous cropping conditions and a summary of reshaping measures and their optimization direction.

Soilborne pathogens affect plant growth and food production worldwide. The application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to control plant diseases has harmful effects; fortunately, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria can be used as a potential alternative strategy. Here, Paenibacillus jamilae HS-26 was selected for its highly antagonistic activity against several soilborne pathogens. The bacterium synthesized hydrolytic enzymes and released extracellular antifungal metabolites and volatile organic compounds—primarily, N, N-diethyl-1, 4-phenylenediamine, which was detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and shown to inhibit fungal mycelial growth. Furthermore, HS-26 was useful for nitrogen fixation, phosphate and potassium solubilization, and siderophore and indoleacetic acid production. In vitro tests and pot experiments revealed that HS-26 considerably increased plant biometric parameters. Illumina MiSeq sequencing data showed a significant reduction in soilborne pathogens and increase in beneficial bacteria in the wheat rhizosphere after treatment with strain HS-26.

We describe a new method to produce histone H2B by semisynthesis with an engineered sortase transpeptidase. N-Terminal tail site-specifically modified acetylated, lactylated, and β-hydroxybutyrylated histone H2Bs were incorporated into nucleosomes and investigated as substrates of histone deacetylase (HDAC) complexes and sirtuins. A wide range of rates and site-specificities were observed by these enzyme forms suggesting distinct biological roles in regulating chromatin structure and epigenetics.

Rhizospheric microorganisms can increase phosphorus availability in the soil. In this regard, the ability of phosphofungi to dissolve insoluble phosphorus compounds is greater than that of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. The aim of the current study was to identify efficient phosphofungi that could be developed as commercial microbial agents. Among several phosphate-solubilizing fungal isolates screened, strain CS-1 showed the highest phosphorus-solubilization ability. Based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region sequence, it was identified as Aspergillus niger. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that the mechanism of phosphorus solubilization by CS-1 involved the synthesis and secretion of organic acids, mainly oxalic, tartaric, and citric acids. Furthermore, strain CS-1 exhibited other growth-promoting abilities, including efficient potassium release and degradation of crop straw cellulose. These properties help to returning crop residues to the soil, thereby increasing nutrient availability and sustaining organic matter concentration therein. A pot experiment revealed that CS-1 apparently increased the assessed biometric parameters of wheat seedlings, implying the potential of this strain to be developed as a commercial microbial agent. We used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to investigate the microbial community composition in the rhizosphere of uninoculated wheat plants and wheat plants inoculated with the CS-1 strain to obtain insight into the effect of the CS-1 strain inoculation. The data clearly demonstrated that CS-1 significantly reduced the content of pathogenic fungi, including Gibberella, Fusarium, Monographella, Bipolaris, and Volutella, which cause soil-borne diseases in various crops. Strain CS-1 may hence be developed into a microbial agent for plant growth improvement.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13568-018-0593-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.