Engineering Multigenerational Host-Modulated Microbiota against Soilborne Pathogens in Response to Global Climate Change

Abstract

Crop migration caused by climatic events has favored the emergence of new soilborne diseases, resulting in the colonization of new niches (emerging infectious diseases, EIDs). Soilborne pathogens are extremely persistent in the environment. This is in large part due to their ability to reside in the soil for a long time, even without a host plant, using survival several strategies. In this regard, disease-suppressive soils, characterized by a low disease incidence due to the presence of antagonist microorganisms, can be an excellent opportunity for the study mechanisms of soil-induced immunity, which can be applied in the development of a new generation of bioinoculants. Therefore, here we review the main effects of climate change on crops and pathogens, as well as the potential use of soil-suppressive microbiota as a natural source of biocontrol agents. Based on results of previous studies, we also propose a strategy for the optimization of microbiota assemblages, selected using a host-mediated approach. This process involves an increase in and prevalence of specific taxa during the transition from a conducive to a suppressive soil. This strategy could be used as a model to engineer microbiota assemblages for pathogen suppression, as well as for the reduction of abiotic stresses created due to global climate change.

Microbiome engineering and plant biostimulants for sustainable crop improvement and mitigation of biotic and abiotic stresses

“…They are safe for humans and the environment and easily degraded in soil. These engineered microbiomes are applied to plants to suppress the growth of the pathogenic population [58], as shown in several major crops, such as rice, wheat, and corn. For instance, Saikia et al [59] demonstrated that exogenous microbial inoculations either in soil or as endophytes could combat Xanthomonas blight in rice.…”

Integrated Soil Health Management for Plant Health and One Health: Lessons From Histories of Soil-borne Disease Management in California Strawberries and Arthropod Pest Management

“…Similar to the "discovery" of "good bugs" in arthropod management, we are now understanding the importance of beneficial (Mendes et al, 2013), commensal (Teixeira et al, 2019), and core microbes (Banerjee et al, 2018;Toju et al, 2018). Mechanisms of suppressive soil conditions are a highly active area of research (Schlatter et al, 2017;Duran et al, 2021;Samaddar et al, 2021). To understand plant-soil microbe interactions as a part of the plant defense system, concepts of soil (Lapsansky et al, 2016) and plant memory (Kong et al, 2019), and plant (Han, 2019;Teixeira et al, 2019) and rhizosphere immunity (Wei et al, 2020) have been proposed.…”

Biological Crusts to Increase Soil Carbon Sequestration: New Challenges in a New Environment

“…This strategy enables the selection of a particular microbiome by visualizing changes in the host phenotype after several generations of growing the plant in the same place [40]. We recently report that the natural selection of microbiota over multiple generations can be induced through the existence of three factors: (1) a plant model, (2) an abiotic/biotic stressor or inducer factor, and (3) a desirable microbiome [41]. Thus, when a host plant is subjected to some type of abiotic/biotic stress or inducer factor, the plant can modify the composition of their exudates, resulting in the reassembly of the associated microbiomes, which in turn is reflected in modifications of the plant phenotype [42][43][44], entailing an adaptation of the host plant [42,45].…”