Omics–driven approaches in plant–microbe interaction

Abstract

Plant’s life cycle involves interaction with various microorganisms in their environment. Studies are being focused to uncover the molecular components involved in plant–microbe interaction to understand the mechanism of pathogen infection or symbiosis. Recently, research studies in this area focus mainly on environmental issues to provide sustainable agriculture and to increase productivity. In this context, researchers use various high-throughput “omics” approaches which include genomics, to study the structural and functional aspects of genes and also compare the degree of gene expression in contrasting genotypes, transcriptomics that quantifies mRNA transcripts, proteomics that analyse the protein composition and metabolomics which identifies and quantifies cellular metabolites. In this chapter, we discuss the advancement of “omics” platforms, in exploring the complex metabolic networks and regulatory mechanisms during plant–microbe relationship. This has significantly improved our understanding about carbohydrate metabolism between legume plants and rhizobacteria. “Omics” platforms are being used largely in understanding and selecting efficient endophytic or beneficial strains with various improved traits like nutrient uptake, imparting abiotic and biotic stress tolerance during their interaction with host. Comparative studies by large-scale genome analysis of host and pathogen have helped in identification of various effector genes and the nature of pathogenicity induced by pathogen and also the difference in defence mechanisms amongst hosts. Climatic changes that affect the agriculture production and the ever increasing population worldwide are the two challenging factors that need to be balanced currently. In order to attain sustainable agriculture production and productivity, “omics” is a promising tool to understand the plant–microbe interaction that aid in sustainable agriculture.