"What I cannot create, I do not understand": elucidating microbe-microbe interactions to facilitate plant microbiome...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Ecology
• Synthetic Biology

Background:

• Plant-microbe interactions are crucial for plant health and disease.
• Microbe-microbe interactions within plant microbiomes are complex and understudied.
• Understanding these interactions is vital for microbiome engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review factors influencing microbe-microbe interactions in plant environments.
• To propose a framework for data integration to understand and engineer plant microbiomes.
• To highlight understudied microbial interactions relevant to plant health.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of recent studies on microbial interactions.
• Analysis of pairwise screening and cross-feeding models.
• Consideration of spatial distributions and inter-kingdom interactions (bacteria, fungi, phages, protists).

Main Results:

• Identified key factors for building and understanding microbial communities.
• Highlighted the importance of cross-feeding and spatial arrangement.
• Emphasized the need to study interactions beyond bacteria-bacteria.

Conclusions:

• A systematic approach to data collection and integration is needed for microbiome research.
• Understanding microbe-microbe interactions is essential for engineering beneficial plant microbiomes.
• Future research should focus on diverse microbial interactions within plant ecosystems.