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Seed‐borne pathogens can inhabit the rhizosphere and infect the plant after germination. The rhizosphere microbiome plays critical roles in defending against seed‐borne pathogens. However, the assembly of a core rhizosphere microbiome to suppress seed‐borne pathogens is unknown. Here, the root‐associated microbiome is infested with seed‐borne Fusarium in sterile environment, while the root‐associated microbiome is not infested when it interacts with the native soil microbiome across maize cultivars, suggesting that a core rhizosphere microbiome assembles to suppress seed‐borne Fusarium. Two strategies of progressive dilution and rhizodepositional attraction are applied to identify the core rhizobacteria. A synthetic microbiota (SynM) is constructed using the isolates of the core rhizobacteria and optimized according to superior community stability and Fusarium‐suppression capability, which surpasses the single strain and randomly formed microbiota. The optimized SynM (OptSynM) presents a distinctive cooperative pattern in which a key strain harbors the Fusarium suppression function by synthesizing the antagonistic substance fengycin, while other members intensify the functional performance by promoting the growth and the expression of the antagonistic and plant‐growth‐promoting related genes of the key strain. This study demonstrates innovative approaches to construct stable and minimal microbiota for sustainable agriculture and proposes a unique cooperative pattern to sustain community stability and functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateral root formation is coordinated by both endogenous and external factors. As biotic factors, plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria can affect lateral root formation, while the regulation mechanism is unclear. In this study, by applying various marker lines, we found that volatile compounds (VCs) from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9 induced higher frequency of DR5 oscillation and prebranch site formation, accelerated the development and emergence of the lateral root primordia and thus promoted lateral root development in Arabidopsis. We demonstrated a critical role of auxin on B. amyloliquefaciens VCs‐induced lateral root formation via respective mutants and pharmacological experiments. Our results showed that auxin biosynthesis, polar transport and signalling pathway are involved in B. amyloliquefaciens VCs‐induced lateral roots formation. We further showed that acetoin, a major component of B. amyloliquefaciens VCs, is less active in promoting root development compared to VC blends from B. amyloliquefaciens, indicating the presence of yet uncharacterized/unknown VCs might contribute to B. amyloliquefaciens effect on lateral root formation. In summary, our study revealed an auxin‐dependent mechanism of B. amyloliquefaciens VCs in regulating lateral root branching in a non‐contact manner, and further efforts will explore useful VCs to promote plant root development. The volatile compounds from Bacillus spp. increase the frequency of prebranch site formation and further accelerated the emergence of lateral root primordia (LRP) from the primary root (PR) in Arabidopsis, resulting in a denser lateral root (LR) along the PR spatially. This process is dependent on auxin signaling pathway; fully functional machinery of YUCs‐mediated auxin biosynthesis and polar auxin transport are also required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Chemotaxis to plant root exudates is supposed to be a prerequisite for efficient root colonization by rhizobacteria. This is a highly multifactorial process since root exudates are complex compound mixtures of which components are recognized by different chemoreceptors. Little information is available as to the key components in root exudates and their receptors that drive colonization related chemotaxis. We present here the first global assessment of this issue using the plant growth‐promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) Bacillus velezensis SQR9 (formerly B. amyloliquefaciens). This strain efficiently colonizes cucumber roots, and here, we show that chemotaxis to cucumber root exudates was essential in this process. We conducted chemotaxis assays using cucumber root exudates at different concentrations, individual exudate components as well as recomposed exudates, taking into account their concentrations detected in root exudates. Results indicated that two key chemoreceptors, McpA and McpC, were essential for root exudate chemotaxis and root colonization. Both receptors possess a broad ligand range and recognize most of the exudate key components identified (malic, fumaric, gluconic and glyceric acids, Lys, Ser, Ala and mannose). The remaining six chemoreceptors did not contribute to exudate chemotaxis. This study provides novel insight into the evolution of the chemotaxis system in rhizobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]