Microbial natural products activated by plant stress

Covering: 2000 to August 2025The search for new antimicrobial natural products from microorganisms has been limited by the transcriptional silencing of biosynthetic genes when microbes are cultivated outside their ecological environments. Nevertheless, applying knowledge of the ecological roles, for example, microbial defense against plant pathogens, can improve drug discovery efforts. Interactions between plants and their microbiota, during adaptation to pathogen stress, provide ecological cues that induce microenvironments suppressive to pathogens. This article highlights research linking pathogen-induced plant stress signals to the activation of microbial natural product biosynthesis, emphasizing the need for further studies on how plant metabolites can influence biosynthesis in plant-associated microbes.