Trends in Plant SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-04-20DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2026.03.012
Céline De Pessemier, Michiel Vandecasteele, Kelly Hamonts, Daniel Van Damme, Sofie Goormachtig
{"title":"Licensed to protect: microbial biocontrol challenges and opportunities.","authors":"Céline De Pessemier, Michiel Vandecasteele, Kelly Hamonts, Daniel Van Damme, Sofie Goormachtig","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.03.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.03.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbial biocontrol agents (MBCAs) offer a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. Despite extensive research, relatively few MBCAs successfully make it to commercial products. In this review, we catalog commercially available MBCAs, examining their modes of action, their target pathogens, and their application contexts. Our analysis reveals that most products are based on strains of Bacillus, Trichoderma, and Pseudomonas. Additionally, a notable bias exists toward high-value crops and their pathogens, with a comparatively limited representation of products aiming to protect staple crops such as cereals. We propose several strategies to overcome current barriers in MBCA development and improve their market integration.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":"1102-1119"},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147782074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in Plant SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-03-27DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2026.02.005
Vicky J Waymouth, Amelia C W Keynton, Douglas R Brumley, Berit Ebert, Michelle Watt
{"title":"Cell walls and their role in the plant root microbiome.","authors":"Vicky J Waymouth, Amelia C W Keynton, Douglas R Brumley, Berit Ebert, Michelle Watt","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.02.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.02.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant roots form a microbiome that interacts at the cell wall extracellular matrix before entering the cell. The root primary and accessory walls present a dynamic, cell-type-dependent scaffold that microbes must navigate, using shared cellulose or contrasting chitin motifs and influencing plant gene responses that encode enzymes for cell wall biosynthesis and degradation. We propose that an interface evolves as microbes reach the root tip and interact with host polymers, potentially driving concurrent degradation of root and microbial cells. Knowledge gaps span diffusion, fluid flow, nutrient exchange, and the physics of microbial motion within the wall boundary. Advances in in situ imaging and mathematical modelling can help understand the dynamics of cell walls to design root microbiomes to function in agroecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":"1085-1101"},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147533047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Letian Wang, Lin Zhang, Matthias C Rillig, Marcel G A van der Heijden, Nancy C Johnson, Gu Feng
{"title":"Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi orchestrate belowground microbiomes in plant holobionts.","authors":"Letian Wang, Lin Zhang, Matthias C Rillig, Marcel G A van der Heijden, Nancy C Johnson, Gu Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The traditional model of plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal coevolution, based solely on interactions between plants and AM fungi, became obsolete with the discovery of the critical roles that belowground microbiomes play in the function of mycorrhizal symbiosis. Based on insights into hyphosphere microbiota, we expand the plant-AM fungus-bacterium continuum into a multipartite AM fungal-orchestrated holobiont (H-AMF) framework, where AM fungi integrate plant roots with soil microbiota into a cross-kingdom ecological unit. A division of labor exists among plants, AM fungi, and hyphosphere microbes in the mycocentric H-AMF perspective. We summarize mechanisms by which AM fungi sustain cooperative relationships with plants and hyphosphere microbiota and propose holobiont-scale methodologies to advance understanding of plant-fungal-microbial interactions and their ecological functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148631780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rita de Cássia Monteiro-Batista, Domingos F Mélo Neto, Wagner L Araújo, Adriano Nunes-Nesi
{"title":"Satellite fluorescence: seeing drought before plants turn brown.","authors":"Rita de Cássia Monteiro-Batista, Domingos F Mélo Neto, Wagner L Araújo, Adriano Nunes-Nesi","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is a valuable proxy for ecosystem photosynthesis but is influenced by structural effects. Tang et al. show that normalizing SIF by absorbed photosynthetically active radiation reveals early drought-induced physiological declines before visible canopy changes, improving ecosystem drought monitoring.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148631748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaotong Zhan, Elias Sabri, Agustín Mangiarotti, Rumiana Dimova, Xiaohong Zhuang
{"title":"Emerging roles of biomolecular condensation in plant membrane biology.","authors":"Xiaotong Zhan, Elias Sabri, Agustín Mangiarotti, Rumiana Dimova, Xiaohong Zhuang","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.06.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.06.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plants require dynamic mechanisms of cellular organization to continuously adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions. Biomolecular condensation, which refers to nonstoichiometric assembly of macromolecules into membraneless compartments via phase separation, emerges as an essential regulatory strategy for plant development and stress responses. Unlike membrane-bound organelles, condensates can dynamically assemble/disassemble in response to different environmental cues. Increasing evidence indicates that versatile plant condensates associate with cellular membranes to regulate processes such as signal transduction, intracellular trafficking, organelle biogenesis, and gene expression. In this review, we summarize recent progress on representative condensates in association with the plant endomembrane system. We also highlight methodological advances, from multiscale in vivo characterization to in vitro reconstitution, which enable quantitative dissection of membrane-condensate interactions, with an emphasis on the biophysical principles governing them.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148607794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ning Luo, Junhan Wang, Morten Graversgaard, Renan C Umburanas, De Li Liu, Qirui Li, Jonathan Storkey, Simon Willcock, Pu Wang, Qingfeng Meng
{"title":"AI-designed crop populations for sustainable intensification.","authors":"Ning Luo, Junhan Wang, Morten Graversgaard, Renan C Umburanas, De Li Liu, Qirui Li, Jonathan Storkey, Simon Willcock, Pu Wang, Qingfeng Meng","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Meeting food-security targets within environmental limits requires integrating genetic advances with data-driven design and adaptive management of crop populations as engineered systems. Herein, we propose a framework for AI-designed crop populations, in which AI-enabled approaches coordinate above- and belowground architecture with management to improve productivity, resource-use efficiency, and climate resilience. AI can act as an architect by coupling phenomics with process-based crop models to optimize multiobjective population designs and identify locally tailored configurations. It can also act as a regulator by integrating sensing, model-based prediction, and environmental feedback to guide in-season adaptation under climate variability. By linking trait innovation with population-level interactions and adaptive regulation, this framework offers a potentially transferable route for shifting the yield-efficiency frontier for sustainable intensification.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148607800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nitric oxide-melatonin crosstalk as a stress-state-dependent signaling module in plants.","authors":"Yanjun Zhang, Dongmei Zhang, Jianlong Dai, Hezhong Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nitric oxide (NO) and melatonin (MT) are ubiquitous plant stress signals, yet their interplay is often reduced to simple antioxidant additivity or fixed synergy. In this review, we synthesize current evidence into an evidence-supported working framework in which NO-MT crosstalk functions as a reversible, stress-state-dependent signaling module governed by NO set-point control, redox-encoded post-translational modifications, and phase-, tissue-, and network-gated feedback. We distinguish three operational states: feed-forward activation, buffering restraint, and network integration. We further define minimum diagnostic criteria for state assignment, including NO kinetics, blockability, turnover/denitrosation capacity, and target-selective S-nitrosation. This framework clarifies when NO-MT coupling is causal, when it is buffered, and when it is redirected by broader reactive oxygen species/calcium/hormone/hydrogen sulfide.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148607760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Plant-cyanobacterial symbioses: mutualism with emerging translational possibilities.","authors":"Juan C Villarreal, Pierre-Marc Delaux, Fay-Wei Li","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Engineering rhizobial-plant nitrogen fixation in crops is a major goal in plant synthetic biology. We propose expanding efforts to plant-cyanobacterial symbioses as an alternative path. Targeting the earliest step of this partnership-likely conserved across its independent evolutionary origins-may offer a comparatively simple and promising strategy for enabling nitrogen-fixing crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148607810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Supramolecular agriculture: host-guest chemistry for controlled plant signaling.","authors":"Navneet Thakur, Gaurav Zinta, Ankit Saneja","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Modern agriculture depends extensively on chemical inputs to optimize global food production. Supramolecular host-guest chemistry allows precise regulation of the delivery, stability, and spatiotemporal release of signaling molecules, thereby enabling crop improvement. Consequently, supramolecular agriculture has the potential to transform agrochemicals into targeted and efficient tools for sustainable farming.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148585169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tianyi Qiu, Jay Ram Lamichhane, David J Beerling, Sara Vicca, Yu Shi, Jordi Sardans, Zhiyuan Xu, Wenfeng Tan, Thomas C Wanger, Pete Smith, Josep Peñuelas, Linchuan Fang
{"title":"Harnessing cover crop-rock weathering synergies for climate-smart agriculture.","authors":"Tianyi Qiu, Jay Ram Lamichhane, David J Beerling, Sara Vicca, Yu Shi, Jordi Sardans, Zhiyuan Xu, Wenfeng Tan, Thomas C Wanger, Pete Smith, Josep Peñuelas, Linchuan Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The use of cover crops (CCs) is increasingly promoted to diversify cropping systems and advance agricultural sustainability. Yet, CC adoption can involve context-dependent trade-offs, including resource competition and elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this opinion article, we propose enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as a complementary strategy to improve biogeochemical synchrony within CC systems. By synthesizing emerging evidence, we show how CC-ERW interactions can synergistically enhance carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, GHG mitigation, and soil food-web functioning, mainly via root-driven weathering processes and soil feedbacks. We further outline opportunities for application across diverse agroecosystems and highlight key challenges for scaling, including weathering thresholds, potential metal risks, and governance constraints. Overall, harnessing the CC-ERW nexus offers a promising pathway toward climate-resilient and multifunctional agriculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":23264,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Plant Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":21.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148580180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}