Unique Insights into How Plants and Soil Microbiomes Interact Are at Our Fingertips

Global warming endangers our world, with probably a drastic drop in food production as one of the first vital consequences for humanity. To maintain or improve quality and sustainable yields, the burning imperative for agriculture is to rapidly integrate the essential component for plant development and soil regeneration, namely, the soil microbiome. Although enormous progress has been made in identifying the components of this microbiome, the way in which they interact with each other and with plants remains poorly understood. Lidbury I, Raguideau S, Borsetto C, Murphy A, et al. (mSystems 7:e00025-22, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00025-22) illustrate how metaproteomics helps define key interactions between plants and microorganisms at the rhizospheric interface. The many extracellular proteins identified and quantified by this methodology uniquely explain the observed phenotype. This study shows that the adoption of metaproteomics is no longer an option that microbiologists should consider but a must!