Plant microbiomes and their role in plant health

Microorganisms are integral inhabitants of plants,playing a crucial role in plant growth,development,and health.The composition and diversity of microorganisms in plants can be influenced by several factors,including environmental factors such as soil type,temperature,and water availability.The plant microbiome serves essential functions,including nutrient acquisition,disease resistance,and stress tolerance,achieved through complex interactions between microorganisms and plants.Understanding these interactions and the impact of environmental factors can provide valuable insights into developing sustainable agricultural practices.The use of plant microbiomes in agriculture has the potential to improve crop yield,reduce fertilizer and pesticide use,and enhance soil health and sustainability,but scaling up these technologies poses several challenges.The potential benefits of using plant microbiomes in agriculture are significant and could revolutionize the industry.However,scaling up these technologies presents several challenges that require further research and innovation.In conclusion,studying plant microbiomes has the potential to bring about positive impacts for farmers,consumers,and the environment.

The rhizosphere microbial complex in plant health:A review of interaction dynamics

Climate change,urbanization,and population increase limit food availability.To sustain human existence,there is the need to increase food and agricultural production to mitigate the impact of these factors.Scientists have been working for years on ways to increase food production.From plant breeding techniques to soil science,scientists have made tremendous progress.The rhizobiome has been proven to be important to crop production,and the impact of the rhizobiome on plant health cannot be overemphasized.Being rich in diverse complex microbial interactions,the rhizosphere has become a major force in recent plant growth promotion studies.The upsurge in next-generation sequencing applications with the various“omics”technologies is helping to unearth information relating to rhizosphere impact on plant growth.Explaining the complex interactions between and across microbial species present in the rhizosphere is important to further enhance our understanding of their mechanistic and mutualistic functions.Knowledge from this can be used in rhizosphere biome engineering for improved plant growth and yield in the face of the various biotic and abiotic challenges.

Assessment of residual chlorine in soil microbial community using metagenomics

Chlorine-containing disinfectants have been widely used around the world for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.However,at present,little is known about the impact of residual chlorine on the soil micro-ecological environment.Herein,we treated an experimental soil-plant-microbiome microcosm system by continuous irrigation with a low concentration of chlorine-containing water,and then analyzed the influence on the soil microbial community using metagenomics.After 14-d continuous chlorine treatment,there were no significant lasting effect on soil microbial community diversity and composition either in the rhizosphere or in bulk soil.Although metabolic functions of the rhizosphere microbial community were affected slightly by continuous chlorine treatment,it recovered to the original status.The abundance of several resistance genes changed by 7 d and recovered by 14 d.According to our results,the chlorine residue resulting from daily disinfection may present a slight long-term effect on plant growth(shoot length and fresh weight)and soil micro-ecology.In general,our study assisted with environmental risk assessments relating to the application of chlorine-containing disinfectants and minimization of risks to the environment during disease control,such as COVID-19.

Transient leaf endophytes are the most active fungi in 1-year-old beech leaf litter

The ecological significance of fungi occurring asymptomatically inside living plant leaves is poorly understood.Given the broad saprotrophic potential of many endophytic fungi,we hypothesized that they persist in decaying litter for an extended period of time after leaf abscission.Fungal assemblages were assessed by highthroughput sequencing in autumn leaves of beech(Fagus sylvatica)and in the corresponding leaf litter in 388 samples from 22 beech forest plots in three widely distant regions of Germany.A considerable proportion of the leafendophytic fungi was also found in 1-year-old litter.Cooccurrence networks revealed that the fungi formed unstructured assemblages inside the living leaves,rather than well-structured communities.Previously endophytic fungi constituted an integral part of the fungal litter community and were by far the most active fungi in 1-year-old litter.We therefore consider these endophytic occurrences to represent transient stages.Composition of the aboveground microbiome appears therefore to be closely connected to the process of litter decomposition.Considering the respective linked fungal habitat will facilitate predicting nutrient and carbon cycling and storage in forest ecosystems as well as elucidating the ecology of leaf microbiomes.