SYNTHETIC MICROBIAL COMMUNITY: A RHIZOSPHERE MICROBIOME ENGINEERING STRATEGY TO ENHANCE THE SURVIVAL AND RESILIENCE OF TISSUE-CULTURED PLANTS

Abstract

Micropropagation is a novel plant tissue culture technique used to rapidly produce large numbers of genetically identical plants (clones) under sterile and controlled laboratory conditions. The success of large-scale micropropagation depends on efficient, cheap, and reliable transfer of plants from the lab to the field. However, during the acclimatization stage, tissue cultured plantlets often face challenges such as poorly developed cuticles and stomata, weak roots, and low photosynthetic efficiency, making them sensitive to moisture loss, environmental stress, and microbial competition, resulting in poor survival. This review highlights how beneficial interactions with rhizosphere microbiomes can enhance nutrient acquisition, strengthen stress tolerance, and improve resistance to pathogens, thereby supporting successful establishment of tissue cultured plantlets in soil. It further discusses how Synthetic microbial community (SynComs) strategies applied during acclimatization can significantly improve survival during hardening and increase the capacity of regenerated plants to perform under natural conditions. Although biotization is a well-known strategy in tissue culture, the use of specifically designed SynComs in micropropagation remains largely unexplored. This gap presents a valuable opportunity to improve the scalability and physiological performance of clonally propagated plants. Overall, this review positions SynComs, a tool in rhizosphere microbiome engineering as a promising, sustainable strategy to bridge the gap between in vitro propagation and field establishment.