Plant-microbial symbiosis: Molecular insights and applications in sustainable agriculture

The association of plants and microorganisms is a major determinant that influences the plant health, uptake of nutrients, and resilience to climate change. The technological advancements in the fields of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have enabled understanding of these symbiotic interactions at cellular and molecular levels. The identification of molecular mechanisms that underlie the mutualistic association between plants and different kinds of beneficial microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobia, endophytes, and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria has revealed major signaling pathways such as the common symbiosis signaling pathway, hormone crosstalk, and microbe-associated molecular patterns. Recent studies have demonstrated that the Common Symbiosis Signaling Pathway (CSSP) is essential and conserved among diverse plant species, and assumes an important role in plant symbiotic interactions. Microbial consortia, notwithstanding their broad potential, are strongly dependent on the context and their results vary according to factors such as microbial competition, host genotype, and soil heterogeneity, which in turn explain the inconsistencies that have been observed in the field. The partnerships between plants and microbes could lead to exciting transformation for agriculture that’s both sustainable and resilient to climate challenges. • Plant-microbial symbiosis increases crop productivity, nutrient use efficiency, and plant health • Mutualistic interactions of plants and microbes contribute to climate-resilient agriculture • Omics advances provide insights into key symbiosis-associated molecular and signal transduction pathways for improving crop productivity