Summary
This narrative review examines the plant microbiome as a sustainable alternative to agrochemical pesticides for managing biotic and abiotic crop stresses. It synthesises evidence demonstrating that stressed plants recruit diverse microbial communities which produce bioactive metabolites and trigger defence gene expression, and describes strategies for microbiome engineering and bioinformatic prediction of microbiome functions to enhance agricultural resilience.
Regional applicability
The mechanistic findings and microbiome engineering strategies are broadly applicable to United Kingdom cropping systems facing climate variability and disease pressure. However, the review does not address UK-specific pathogen profiles, soil types or regulatory frameworks for microbial inoculants, limiting direct policy applicability without additional contextual research.
Key measures
Microbial metabolite diversity (diffusible and volatile organic compounds), transcriptomic variations in defence genes, leaf and root exudate composition, microbial community structure shifts, relative abundance of symbiotic microorganisms
Outcomes reported
The paper synthesises evidence on how plant microbiomes respond to biotic and abiotic stresses through changes in metabolite production and defence gene expression, and explores strategies for microbiome engineering to enhance crop resilience. It reviews molecular mechanisms by which phytomicrobiomes stimulate plant immunity and interact with plant defence systems.
Topic tags
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.