A stable 15-member bacterial SynCom promotes Brachypodium growth under drought stress
Our results demonstrate that trait-informed construction of synthetic communities can yield stable, functionally diverse consortia that enhance plant resilience under drought. Preferential colonization near root tips points to active, localized plant-microbe signaling as a component of stress-responsive recruitment. This stable SynCom provides a scalable platform for probing mechanisms of plant-microbe interaction and for developing microbiome-based strategies to improve soil and crop performance in variable environments.
Authors
- Grace Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3915-0754)
- Mingfei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6281-2480)
- Shwetha M. Acharya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4824-7403)
- Yuguo Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5801-6257)
- Archana Yadav (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4255-9860)
- Romy Chakraborty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9326-554X)
- Tiffany Z. Zhao
- Eunice Tsang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1007-9252)
Institutions
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Published
- 2025-08-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1649750
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.50
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory