Ecologically designed three-member microbial consortia promote growth in Brassicaceae members by modulating growth-defense tradeoff

Both microbiological and genomics approaches demonstrated the significant PGP potential and stability of bacterial consortia SAB, which outperformed its members. Phenotypic data indicated that SAB treatment positively impacted shoot and root biomass growth. Furthermore, greenhouse experiments confirmed the consistent and significant performance of SAB treatment on choy sum plants in various soil conditions. Transcriptomics data of boht root and shoot at two different time point revealed that SAB triggered a parallel activation of growth and defense response in shoot that by pass the growth defense tread-off through microbiome mediated signaling and beneficial services. Overall design: A three-membered bacterial consortium (SAB) was formulated by considering the natural interactions among its members through genome-scale metabolic modeling along with the PGPR properties. The consortium was found to promote growth in several leafy vegetables like Choy-sum and Kai-lan in both laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Transcriptome analysis was carried out from the leaves and root system of the consortium-treated Choy-sum plants at 8 and 18 days of their growth in pots with peat-moss soil, with their respective untreated control. The seeds were treated with SAB consortium and sowed in peat-moss soil. Plants were grown in a controlled environment with a 16/8-hour light and dark cycle at 22 degrees Celsius temperature.