Siderophore-Mediated Interactions Determine the Disease Suppressiveness of Microbial Consortia
Shaohua Gu,
Tianjie Yang,
Zhengying Shao,
Tao Wang,
Kehao Cao,
Alexandre Jousset,
Ville-Petri Friman,
Cyrus Mallon,
Xinlan Mei,
Zhong Wei,
Yangchun Xu,
Qirong Shen,
Thomas Pommier
Affiliations
Shaohua Gu
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Tianjie Yang
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Zhengying Shao
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Tao Wang
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Kehao Cao
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Alexandre Jousset
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Ville-Petri Friman
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Cyrus Mallon
Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Xinlan Mei
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Zhong Wei
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Yangchun Xu
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Qirong Shen
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Key Lab of Plant Immunity, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
Thomas Pommier
Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Ecologie Microbienne, Villeurbanne, France
ABSTRACT Interactions between plant pathogens and root-associated microbes play an important role in determining disease outcomes. While several studies have suggested that steering these interactions may improve plant health, such approaches have remained challenging in practice. Because of low iron availability in most soils, competition for iron via secreted siderophore molecules might influence microbial interaction outcomes. Here, we tested if bacterial interactions mediated by iron-scavenging siderophores can be used to predict the disease suppressiveness of microbial consortia against soilborne Ralstonia solanacearum, a bacterial pathogen in the tomato rhizosphere. Iron availability significantly affected the interactions within inoculated consortia and between the consortia and the pathogen. We observed contrasting effects of siderophores and other nonsiderophore metabolites on the pathogen growth, while the siderophore effects were relatively much stronger. Specifically, disease incidence was reduced in vivo when the inoculated consortia produced siderophores that the pathogen could not use for its own growth. Employing siderophore-mediated interactions to engineer functionally robust microbial inoculants shows promise in protecting plants from soilborne pathogens. IMPORTANCE Soil-borne pathogens cause high losses in crop yields globally. The development of environmentally friendly approaches is urgently needed, but is often constrained by complex interactions between root-associated microbes and pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that the interactions within microbial consortia mediated by iron-scavenging siderophores play an important role in reducing pathogen infection and enhancing plant health. This study provides a promising and novel research direction for dealing with a wide range of microbial infections through iron exploitation, which is important for the colonization and infection of both plant and human hosts by pathogens.
