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Article|16 Oct 2025|OPEN
Decoding endophytic microbiome dynamics: engineering antagonistic synthetic consortia for targeted fusarium suppression in monoculture regimes
Hongling Qin1,2 ,† , Leyan Zhang2 ,† , Zhongxiu Rao3 , Xiaomeng Wei4 , András Táncsics5 , Rong Sheng1 , Yi Liu1 , Anlei Chen1 , Cheng Fang1 , Fengqiu Huang3 and Pan Long2 , Baoli Zhu,1 ,
1Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
2College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
3Hunan Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Changsha 410125, China
4College of Resources and Environment, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China
5Department of Molecular Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-2100 Gödöll˝o, Hungar
*Corresponding author. E-mail: baoli.zhu@isa.ac.cn
Both authors contributed equally to the study.

Horticulture Research 13,
Article number: uhaf286 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhaf286
Views: 86

Received: 14 Apr 2025
Revised: 24 Oct 2025
Published online: 16 Oct 2025

Abstract

Biological control leveraging endophytic microbes represents a promising eco-friendly strategy to mitigate soil-borne diseases, yet the efficacy and mechanistic underpinnings of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) derived from plant endophytes remain poorly understood. This study employed a holistic approach—integrating field sampling, microbial profiling, and functional validation—to investigate the dynamics of edible lily (Lilium) microbiomes under continuous cropping and develop targeted SynComs against Fusarium oxysporum. Metacommunity analysis revealed that prolonged monoculture co-enriched both potentially beneficial taxa (e.g. PseudomonasBacillus) and pathogenic Fusarium, reflecting a dynamic equilibrium where naturally recruited antagonists were insufficient to prevent pathogen dominance, while increasing the complexity of endophytic co-occurrence networks. Keystone bacterial lineages, including Burkholderiaceae and Pseudomonas, emerged as critical stabilizers of the endosphere microbiome. Notably, 50% of endogenous bacterial taxa exhibited rhizospheric origins, contrasting with fungal communities where <10% derived from soil—a finding underscoring host-specific filtering mechanisms. Through systematic isolation and combinatorial testing, we engineered SynComs combining core antagonistic strains (RhizobiumMethylobacteriumTalaromyces) with auxiliary microbes. Fungal-integrated SynComs outperformed bacteria-only consortia in plant growth promotion and pathogen suppression. By bridging fundamental microbial ecology with translational agriculture, our findings establish SynComs as scalable tools for sustainable soil health management, reducing reliance on synthetic fungicides while addressing the yield-limiting challenges in continuous cropping systems.