Crafting the plant root metabolome for improved microbe‐assisted stress resilience

Abstract

Plants and microbes coinhabit the earth and have coevolved during environmental changes over time. Root metabolites are the key to mediating the dynamic association between plants and microbes, yet the underlying functions and mechanisms behind this remain largely illusive. Knowledge of metabolite-mediated alteration of the root microbiota in response to environmental stress will open avenues for engineering root microbiotas for improved plant stress resistance and health. Here, we synthesize recent advances connecting environmental stresses, the root metabolome and microbiota, and propose integrated synthetic biology-based strategies for tuning the plant root metabolome in situ for microbe-assisted stress resistance, offering potential solutions to combat climate change. The current limitations, challenges and perspectives for engineering the plant root metabolome for modulating microbiota are collectively discussed.

Functions and biosynthesis of plant signaling metabolites mediating plant–microbe interactions

“…2, 3, 9, and 10). 284 The bioengineering of plant–microbe communications via signaling metabolites could be realized by tuning metabolic flux, directed evolution of metabolic enzymes in plant hosts, reconstruction of biosynthetic pathways in heterologous plants, and inoculation of engineered microbes to plants (Fig. 10).…”

“…The knowledge synthesized here with regard to the functions and biosynthesis of plant signaling metabolites provides an overall picture on the structural genes that can be utilized as genetic circuits in rapidly evolving synthetic biology systems for the synthesis and production of these signaling molecules on scale for exogenous application or tuning their synthesis in plants for enhanced microbe-enabled PGP effects. 284 It can be envisaged that future research will be more focused on unraveling new functions and the underlying mechanisms of plant metabolites in plant–microbe interactions, as well as elucidating their biosynthesis and regulation, which are key steps toward unleashing the potential of plant natural products in directing plant–microbe interactions.…”

Impact of global change on the plant microbiome

“…This collection also includes a number of Tansley reviews and Tansley insights, Research reviews and Viewpoints that discuss various aspects including the role of beneficial fungi for promoting stress tolerance (Almario et al, 2022(Almario et al, , in this issue pp. 1967(Almario et al, -1976, the potential of root metabolome engineering for modulating beneficial plant-microbe interactions (Hong et al, 2022;in this issue pp. 1945-1950, the consequences of climate change on phyllosphere/rhizosphere microbiomes and mountain microbial biogeography (Zhu et al, 2022(Zhu et al, , pp.…”

Roots of sustainability

“…The root is not alone, but intimately intertwined with specific microbial communities that contribute to the well-being of the plant by specific metabolites. Some of these metabolites act as signals supporting adaptation to environmental stresses (for a recent review see Hong et al 2022 ). For the specific microbial ecosystem surrounding a root, the term rhizosphere has been coined (Hiltner 1904 ).…”