Rhizosphere Microbiome and Soil-Borne Diseases

The classical view on plant diseases represented by a triangle where the host, the pathogen, and the environment interact with each other resulting in disease or not is recently challenged by a more complex holistic view including the presence of complex microbial communities in the pathosystem. The plant and soil microbiomes are closely connected with all three causal factors of the classical “disease triangle.” The environment, especially the soil characteristics, determines the source of microbes recruited by plant roots, which in turn directly affect the success of given pathogen to cause disease. In the plant, the microbiome impacts host development and health and its assembling and functioning is to some extend controlled by the host genetic traits. The pathogen, as member of the soil microbiome, also interacts and competes with a complex microbial community striving to invade the rhizosphere microbiome and reach the root system to infect and cause disease. Here, we discuss the interactions on the rhizosphere microbiome in the context of soil-borne diseases, highlighting the microbiome as a key player in pathosystems, acting as first line of defense in the rhizosphere. We also discuss strategies to identify plant genetic traits involved in recruitment of beneficial microorganisms and the potential to explore it in the breeding programs to promote plant health and productivity.