Compatibility among Bacillus strains is linked to synthetic communities function, rhizosphere microbiome assembly and plant performance
Abstract
Microbial compatibility is an important consideration for synthetic communities (SynCom) function, but its ecological and physiological consequences for plant-microbe interactions remain insufficiently understood. We investigated compatible and incompatible Bacillus-based SynComs and their effects on tomato growth, rhizosphere microbiome assembly, and microbial network organization. Compatible co-cultures exhibited enhanced co-culture phenotypes, including merged colony morphology, enhanced biofilm formation, and altered growth dynamics, whereas incompatible combinations formed demarcation zones, indicative of antagonism. The compatible pair NMCN6+LNXM12 showed higher attached biomass and relative indole-3-acetic acid production compared with most incompatible or single-strain inoculations. Greenhouse experiments revealed that compatible SynComs significantly promoted tomato growth, increased plant height, root length, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance, while incompatible combinations showed distinct soluble sugar responses rather than consistent evidence of plant stress. Amplicon sequencing revealed treatment-associated variation in rhizosphere bacterial community composition. Compatible SynComs were associated with enrichment of specific bacterial taxa and produced more interconnected and stable co-occurrence networks, whereas incompatible combinations showed distinct taxonomic profiles and comparatively fragmented microbial associations. Community composition differed significantly among individual treatments but not among broader compatibility categories with unequal within-group dispersion. Collectively, the observed co-culture, plant, and microbiome responses highlight differences among the selected Bacillus combinations that cannot be attributed to compatibility alone. These findings may provide the selection of Bacillus strain combinations for further evaluation as plant inoculants.
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References 57
- Authors
- Khan, A. R., Ali, Q., Khalid, S., Ayaz, M., Li, L., Jinbiao, M., Mundra, S., Kuptsov, V., Kolomiets, E., Gu, Q., Wu, H., & Gao, X.
- Affiliations
- Nanjing Agricultural University (CN)
- United Arab Emirates University (AE)
- University of Agriculture Faisalabad (PK)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (BY)
- Corresponding author
- Khan, Abdur Rashid
- Gao, Xuewen
- Venue
- Plant Cell Reports
- Published
- 2026-10-17
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 11
- ISSN
- 0721-7714 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-203X
- OpenAlex
- W7222816577
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 57
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Plant Cell Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of Hainan Province (GHYF2026022)
- National Key Research and Development Plan Intergovernmental International Science and Technology Innovation (2022YFE0121800)
- hou Bay Science and Technology City Industrial Technology Innovation Joint Project (B25H1JC17)
- Xinjiang Autonomous Region Science and Technology Assistance Plan Project (2025E02010)
- Inner Mongolia Key R&D and Achievement Transformation Project Autonomous Region (2023YFDZ0011)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Agriculture, Plant Science, Crop Management
- Keywords
- microbial compatibility, synthetic microbial communities, Bacillus, plant growth promotion, tomato, indole-3-acetic acid, biofilm formation, microbial co-occurrence networks, plant-microbe interactions, bacterial antagonism, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance
- MeSH terms
- Bacillus, Indoleacetic Acids, Soil Microbiology, Biofilms, Plant Roots, Biomass, Solanum lycopersicum, Coculture Techniques, Rhizosphere, Microbiota
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