The plant roots harbor a perse and abundant community of microorganisms, collectively known as the root microbiome. As the plant’s "second genome," the root microbiome plays a crucial role in plant growth and health. We employ various approaches, including bioinformatics, high-throughput microbial isolation and cultivation, molecular genetics, and biochemistry, to investigate the novel functions and underlying mechanisms of the rootmicrobiome in plant growth and health. Our major research advances include: Establishing a high-throughput system for microbial isolation, cultivation, and identification, and constructing a bacterial strain and genome database for model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and crops like rice (Oryza sativa) (Bai et al., Nature, 2015; Zhang et al., Nature Protocols, 2021; Dai et al., Cell, in press). Uncovering widespread interactions between bacteria and viruses in the root microbiome and identifying a novel mechanism that enables bacteria to resist viral infections (Zhang et al., Nature, 2024). Discovering that the roots of indica rice harbors a greater abundance of nitrogen-cycling microbes compared to japonica rice, enhancing the plant’s ability to utilize soil nitrogen more efficiently (Zhang et al., Nature Biotechnology, 2019). Elucidating the crucial role of triterpenoids in plant-mediated regulation of the root microbiome (Huang et al., Science, 2019). Identifying beneficial bacteria that effectively suppress Fusarium head blight in wheat and elucidating their mechanism of action (Sun et al., Nature Microbiology, 2022). These findings provide new theoretical insights into the functional roles of root microbes and establish an important theoretical and technological foundation for their application in sustainable agriculture.

Jingying Zhang, Juan Lin, Binglei Wang, Quan Liu