Root Microbiota: Orchestrating Architecture-Smart Crops

Chen et al., 2026

Crops depend on microbial partners for their growth, development, and overall resilience. A pivotal understanding has emerged showing the direct involvement of the root microbiota in regulating the tiller number of rice, a crucial architecture that influences yield. Novel frontiers in microbiological applications for agriculture highlight the profound role of the root microbiota in shaping crop architecture to boost productivity. We propose that improvements in crop production are moving from a genetic perspective on “architecture” to embracing “holobiont architecture.” As such, microbial orchestration provides a dynamic fine-tune function for breeding “architecture-smart crops” characterised by phenotypic plasticity under environmental uncertainty.

https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1751-7915.70307