Arabidopsis coordinates Fe acquisition with its root microbiota by releasing distinct coumarin chemotypes in response to environmental pH. These root-exuded specialized metabolites interact with root-...

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Plants and other photosynthetic organisms interact with their environment and surrounding microbiota through specialized associations. A global core microbiota has been proposed at high taxonomic levels, such as the order level. However, it remains unclear which environmental factors and how microbe-microbe interactions drive variation of this core microbiota at lower taxonomic resolution. Here, we leveraged the environmental diversity of 141 sites across the southwest of France to characterize algal populations, and their associated bacterial and fungal microbiota. We then performed a meta-analysis, combining these data with published datasets to formally identify the global core microbiota of terrestrial photosynthetic organisms, which comprises seven bacterial and five fungal orders. We next investigated diversity within this core microbiota and the environmental drivers shaping site-specific community composition. While environmental factors have a low impact on the total relative abundance of core orders, the core microbiota at the ASV-level is impacted by climatic factors, edaphic factors, and plant community descriptors. Using interaction network analysis, we finally explored how microbe-microbe interactions contribute to the assembly of stable core communities. Our results show that core ASVs occupy central positions in algal-associated microbial networks and that distinct core orders drive site-specific variation in core microbiota structure. Together, these findings highlight the importance of both environmental context and microbial interactions in shaping the composition and stability of the core microbiota associated with photosynthetic organisms. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, 951444 – PATHOCOM, erc-stg-948219, EPYC Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR-10-LABX-41 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, https://ror.org/00cwqg982, BB/ X011054/1, BBS/E/F/000PR13631

Using cryo-electron tomography, the authors reveal how plasmodesmata (plant cytoplasmic bridges) are gated by cell wall remodelling and how helical protein assemblies scaffold internal membranes, with...

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

The new rules will make the EU food system more secure and sustainable, with climate- and pest-resistant plants that give higher yields and require fewer fertilisers and pesticides.

Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...

Mathematical modelling and experimental tests reveal principles that govern displacement of a resident strain by an invader in microbial communities.

Genome editing technology is evolving fast, and many labs worldwide are generating crop plants with improved traits. If transgenes were used to generate the edits, foreign DNA must be effectively remo...

Nature Biotechnology - Genome editing technology is evolving fast, and many labs worldwide are generating crop plants with improved traits. If transgenes were used to generate the edits, foreign...

Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone that orchestrates immune responses against pathogens, including Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The timing and extent of SA accumulation are tightly controlled...

The combination of isotopic tracers with root phenotyping reveals specific patterns in photosynthate allocation. These patterns are reflected in rhizodeposition and result in spatially distinct microbiomes within the plant root system.

Eliza Loo

Soils are highly heterogeneous and dynamic systems, experiencing a constant flow of plant root exudates and moisture fluctuations that affect nutrient distribution, soil physicochemical properties, a...

In controlled greenhouse conditions, Arabidopsis thaliana plants with a hyperactive allele of the ACD6 gene have stronger pathogen defenses but are smaller and make fewer seeds, in a classic fitness t...

Microbial communities are frequently organized into complex spatial structures, shaped by intrinsic cellular traits, interactions between community members, initial growth condition or environmental factors. Under- standing the mechanisms that drive these spatial patterns is essential for uncovering fundamental principles of microbial ecology and for developing applications. Using genetic engineering and synthetic microbial communities allows us to decipher how specific parameters influence spatial organization. In this review, we highlight recent studies that leverage synthetic microbial communities to deepen our understanding of microbial spatial ecology. We begin by exploring how initial conditions, such as cell density and relative species abundance, influence spatial organization. We then focus on studies that examine the role of individ- ual microbial traits, such as cell shape and motility. Next, we discuss the impact of contact-dependent and long-range interactions, including metabolite exchange and toxin release. Furthermore, we highlight the in- fluence of environmental factors on spatial dynamics. Finally, we address the current limitations of synthetic approaches and propose future directions to bridge the gap between engineered and natural systems.

In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependen...

Background Field inoculation of crops with beneficial microbes is a promising sustainable strategy to enhance plant fitness and nutrient acquisition. However, effectiveness can vary due to environment...

Endophytic fungi colonize healthy plant tissues without disease. Ujimatsu et al. reveal that the fungal transcription factor CtBOT6 triggers the virulence of a root-associated beneficial endophyte by ...

Establishment of the apoplastic root barrier known as the Casparian strip occurs early in root development. In legumes, this area overlaps with nitrogen-fixing nodule formation, which raises the possi...

Beneficial plant-microbe interactions are common in nature, but direct evidence for the evolution of mutualism is scarce. Here, Li et al. experimentally evolve a rhizospheric bacterium and find that i...

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is essential for life, and plant cells monitor Pi availability by sensing inositol pyrophosphate (PP-InsP) levels. In this work, we describe the hijacking of plant phosphate s...

In the last decade, the generation of host-associated microbial culture collections has allowed the fine disentangling of complex relationships between commensal microbes and their hosts, and within-...

Extracellular proteasomes are found in the Arabidopsis apoplastic fluid and shown to participate in biotic defense by proteolytically digesting pathogen proteins into microbe-associated molecular patt...

Abstract. Jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene (ET) and salicylic acid (SA) are the three major phytohormones coordinating plant defense responses, and all three a

Eastman, Jiang, and Ficco et al. screen 165 root-associated bacteria for suppression of plant immune activation and growth restriction induced by the peptide immune elicitor flg22. They show that Dyella japonica uses the type II secreted subtilase IssA to cleave the peptide immune elicitors flg22 and AtPEP1 and suppress plant immune activation.

Plants recognize bacteria by perceiving a 22-residue epitope in flagellin. Plant-secreted SBT5.2 subtilases are found to inactivate this epitope, leading to elicitor removal and reducing costly immuni...

Soils from 30 grasslands across Europe were subjected to 4 contrasting extreme climatic events under drought, flood, freezing and heat conditions, with the results suggesting that soil microbiomes fro...