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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411050
Research Project: Ecology and Genomics of Soilborne Pathogens, Beneficial Microbes, and the Microbiome of Wheat, Barley, and Biofuel Brassicas

Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research

Title: Plant-driven assembly of disease-suppressive soil microbiomes

Author
item Weller, David
item BERENDSEN, ROELAND - Utrecht University
item Thomashow, Linda
item VAN BENTUM, SIETSKE - Utrecht University
item SPOOREN, JELLE - Utrecht University
item PIETERSE, CORNE - Utrecht University

Submitted to: Annual Review of Phytopathology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2024
Publication Date: 6/10/2024
Citation: Weller, D.M., Berendsen, R.L., Thomashow, L.S., Van Bentum, S., Spooren, J., Pieterse, C.M. 2024. Plant-driven assembly of disease-suppressive soil microbiomes. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 2024.62:11.1-11.30. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-021622-100127.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-021622-100127

Interpretive Summary: Crop plants lack genetic resistance to many diseases caused by soilborne plant pathogens and thus they must rely on beneficial soil microbes as the first line of defense against these pathogens. When attacked, roots send out a “cry or help” to recruit soil and root microbes that can provide natural biocontrol against soilborne pathogens. Disease-suppressive soils are the best examples of natural microbes defending plant roots, and are defined as soils in which, because of their microbial makeup, a pathogen does not establish or persist, establishes but causes little or no disease, or establishes and causes disease at first but then the disease declines. Suppressive soils have been described for diseases caused by a wide variety of pathogens. For some suppressive soils the origin is not known and for other suppressive soils the suppressiveness is initiated and sustained by continuously growing crops that are susceptible to the target pathogen. Suppressive soils provide a sustainable approach to controlling soilborne pathogens without the use of chemical pesticides.

Technical Abstract: Plants have co-evolved together with the microbes that surround them and this assemblage of host and microbes functions as a discrete ecological unit called a holobiont. This review outlines plant-driven assembly of disease-suppressive microbiomes. Plants are colonized by microbes from seed, soil and air, but selectively shape the microbiome with root exudates creating microenvironment hotspots where microbes thrive. Using plant immunity for gatekeeping and surveillance, host plant genetic properties govern microbiome assembly and can confer adaptive advantages to the holobiont. These advantages manifest in disease-suppressive soils, where buildup of specific microbes inhibits the causal agent of disease, and that typically develop after an initial disease outbreak. Based on disease-suppressive soils such as take-all decline, we developed a conceptual model of how plants in response to pathogen attack ‘cry-for-help’, and recruit plant-protective microbes that confer increased resistance. Thereby, plants create a soil-borne legacy that protects subsequent generations and forms disease-suppressive soils.