Siderophore interactions drive the ability of Pseudomonas spp. consortia to protect tomato against Ralstonia solanacearum

Abstract

The soil-borne bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum causes significant losses in Solanaceae crop production worldwide, including tomato, potato, and eggplant. To efficiently prevent outbreaks, it is essential to understand the complex interactions between pathogens and the microbiome. One promising mechanism for enhancing microbiome functionality is siderophore-mediated competition, which is shaped by the low iron availability in the rhizosphere. This study explores the critical role of iron competition in determining microbiome functionality and its potential for designing high-performance microbiome engineering strategies. We investigated the impact of siderophore-mediated interactions on the efficacy of Pseudomonas spp. consortia in suppressing R. solanacearum, both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings show that siderophore production significantly enhances the inhibitory effects of Pseudomonas strains on pathogen growth, while other metabolites are less effective under iron-limited conditions. Moreover, siderophores play a crucial role in shaping interactions within the consortia, ultimately determining the level of protection against bacterial wilt disease. This study highlights the key role of siderophores in mediating consortium interactions and their impact on tomato health. Our results also emphasize the limited efficacy of other secondary metabolites in iron-limited environments, underscoring the importance of siderophore-mediated competition in maintaining tomato health and suppressing disease.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42090060, 42325704, 42277113, and 42107140), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYT2024001), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20230102), the Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund (CX(22)1004, SCX(24)3511) and the Jiangsu Carbon Peak & Carbon Neutrality Science and Technology Innovation Special Fund (BE2022423).

Author contributions

Z.W., Y.X., and Q.S.: conceptualization and project administration. Z.S., S.Gu, and Z.W.: methodology, software, formal analysis, visualization, and writing original draft. X.Z., J.X., T.Y., S.Guo, and Z.W.: resources, investigation, and data curation. T.P., A.J., Z.W., and T.Y.: writing - review and editing.

Data availability

The data for this article are available in the article or in its supplementary material.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data are available at Horticulture Research online.

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