Plant immune dysregulation disrupts microbe-induced growth promotion and microbiome compatibility

Plants associate with diverse microbial communities that influence growth and health. Although plant immune regulatory networks are known to balance defense activation and microbial accommodation during pathogen attack, how they coordinate beneficial plant-microbe interactions across complex microbial contexts remains unclear. Here, we systematically screened 39 immune-pathway mutants using individual plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPBs), binary combinations, and synthetic and natural communities. We identified the bik1-1 mutant as exhibiting a broad defect in growth promotion across multiple beneficial microbial systems. Extensive genetic analyses using independent BIK1 CRISPR and T-DNA insertion alleles, as well as overexpression lines, demonstrated that the growth promotion defect observed in the bik1-1 line is not caused by loss of BIK1 function but is instead associated with a chromosomal fragment duplication. Although induced systemic resistance (ISR) and beneficial bacteria-mediated pathogen protection remain intact in bik1-1, immune activation is elevated during beneficial interactions. Microbiome profiling revealed reduced diversity and altered community structure, and microbiome transfer experiments indicated that host immune status influences selection of microbial taxa associated with growth promotion. These findings indicate that balanced immune signaling is a key determinant of plant-microbiome compatibility across diverse microbial contexts.