Plant pathogen resistance is mediated by recruitment of specific rhizosphere fungi

Abstract

Beneficial interactions between plants and rhizosphere microorganisms are key determinants of plant health with the potential to enhance the sustainability of agricultural practices. However, pinpointing the mechanisms that determine plant disease protection is often difficult due to the complexity of microbial and plant-microbe interactions and their links with the plant’s own defense systems. Here, we found that the resistance level of different banana varieties was correlated with the plant’s ability to stimulate specific fungal taxa in the rhizosphere that are able to inhibit the Foc TR4 pathogen. These fungal taxa included members of the genera Trichoderma and Penicillium, and their growth was stimulated by plant exudates such as shikimic acid, D-(-)-ribofuranose, and propylene glycol. Furthermore, amending soils with these metabolites enhanced the resistance of a susceptible variety to Foc TR4, with no effect observed for the resistant variety. In total, our findings suggest that the ability to recruit pathogen-suppressive fungal taxa may be an important component in determining the level of pathogen resistance exhibited by plant varieties. This perspective opens up new avenues for improving plant health, in which both plant and associated microbial properties are considered.

Plant species identity and mycorrhizal type explain the root-associated fungal pathogen community assembly of seedlings based on functional traits in a subtropical forest

“…Despite the deficiency, the database has been widely adopted for functional classification( Chen et al., 2019a ; Delgado-Baquerizo et al., 2020 ; Liu et al., 2021 ). Subsequently, the actual pathogenicity of the potential fungal pathogen is highly dependent on the context, that is, the presence of other surrounding microbes ( Malik et al., 2016 ; Liu et al., 2023 ) and the environmental changes ( Liu and He, 2019 ; Tannous et al., 2020 ) could lead to variations in the pathogenicity. Future research should focus on how the context dependence could affect the association between fungal pathogen community and the actual pathogenicity, to provide more comprehensive insights into the interaction between forest plants and fungal pathogens.…”

间作槟榔调控咖啡根际微生物群落结构及功能促进咖啡植株发育

“…Streptomyces 具有抑制植物病害的能力, 主要通过竞争资源、产生 抗生素、诱导植物系统抗性等, 抑制病原菌生长繁殖, 促使植物健康生长 [46] . Trichoderma可以与一些植物病 原菌竞争资源, 产生抗生素或植物生长激素等, 提升植 物抗病能力, 促使植株健康生长, 提高产量 [47,48] . Peni-cillium受香草酸和丙二醇等特定根系分泌物的刺激, 能够抑制Foc TR4病原体 [48] .…”

“…Trichoderma可以与一些植物病 原菌竞争资源, 产生抗生素或植物生长激素等, 提升植 物抗病能力, 促使植株健康生长, 提高产量 [47,48] . Peni-cillium受香草酸和丙二醇等特定根系分泌物的刺激, 能够抑制Foc TR4病原体 [48] . 而在咖啡单作根际土壤 中, 富集了潜在的植物致病菌Fusarium和Aspergillus, Fusarium属真菌为植物姜黄病、枯萎病等的病原 菌 [49,50] , 而Aspergillus属真菌可以引起茎腐病…”

How plants manage pathogen infection

“…So-called disease-suppressive soils have the ability to protect plants against pathogens (Carrión et al, 2019 ). Plants also actively recruit beneficial microbes upon pathogen infection (Berendsen et al, 2018 ; Liu et al, 2023b ). Numerous studies have shown that plant-associated microbes support resistance against pathogens indirectly through the activation of plant immunity (Pereira et al, 2023 ; Paasch et al, 2023 ).…”