REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1660944
Microbial Mediated Induced Resistance: Interactive Effects for Improving Crop Health
Provisionally accepted
- 1Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, India
- 2Florida Agriculture Research, Agmetrics Group, Thonotosassa, FL, United States
- 3ICAR- Central Citrus Research Institute,, Nagpur, Maharashtra,, India
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Microbial mediated induced resistance (MMIR) brings a lot of promise for sustainable agriculture but its context dependency is a curtain to cross before recreating this promise under field condition. MMIR is observed during interaction of fungal biocontrol agent Trichoderma spp., beneficial microbe like arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMFs) and bacterial species like Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. etc. recognized as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria with their plant host. Events involved in microbial induction of resistance includes priming, oxidative burst, deposition of callose, Ca2+ ion influx, activation of transcriptional factors, activation of defense related genes, secondary metabolite production and regulation of stomatal activity. In this phenomenon defense signal cascade like Jasmonic acid (JA) pathway, ethylene (ET) pathway, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production etc are found to be triggered when plants are inoculated with these beneficial microbes. Resultantly such plants become immune to future infection by pathogenic microbes. Fungi Trichoderma atroviride, T. harzianum, T. longibrachiatum, Arbuscular Mycorhizal Fungi, Mortierella hyaline, Serendipita vermifera, Acrophialophora jodhpurensis, Piriformospora indica, and bacteria Bacillus subtilis, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. atrophaeus, B. cereus, B. megaterium, Paenibacillus alvei, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, Streptomyces lydicus, S. pactum and Paraburkholderia phytofirmans are reported to induce resistance. Work done on this aspect so far indicates that this phenomenon is highly context dependent that is affected by biotic factors, abiotic factors and agricultural practices showing inconsistency in the induction of resistance. Sufficient built up of population of beneficial microbe in rhizosphere is the prerequisite to induce resistance but not a surety for triggering signal cascades if conditions do not favour. To reduce the context dependency, it is required to simulate field like conditions during experimentation. Alternatively, if the context dependency of MMIR is accepted as inevitable, the focus should shift to developing environmentally stable commercial formulations. Compositions of secondary metabolites from beneficial microbes, known to trigger resistance in the lab, might also induce it consistently in the field. This will require more interdisciplinary research and partnership with industries.
Keywords: Microbial mediated induced resistance, Trichoderma, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, oxidative burst, Ca2+ ion influx, secondary metabolites, context dependency
Received: 07 Jul 2025; Accepted: 14 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Charpe, Aglave and Ghosh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ashwini Marotirao Charpe, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, India
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