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Soil-borne plant diseases are increasingly causing devastating losses in agricultural production. The development of a more refined model for disease prediction can aid in reducing crop losses through the use of preventative control measures or soil fallowing for a planting season. The emergence of high-throughput DNA sequencing technology has provided unprecedented insight into the microbial composition of diseased versus healthy soils. However, a single independent case study rarely yields a general conclusion predictive of the disease in a particular soil. Here, we attempt to account for the differences among various studies and plant varieties using a machine-learning approach based on 24 independent bacterial data sets comprising 758 samples and 22 independent fungal data sets comprising 279 samples of healthy or Fusarium wilt-diseased soils from eight different countries. We found that soil bacterial and fungal communities were both clearly separated between diseased and healthy soil samples that originated from six crops across nine countries or regions. Alpha diversity was consistently greater in the fungal community of healthy soils. While diseased soil microbiomes harbored higher abundances of Xanthomonadaceae , Bacillaceae , Gibberella , and Fusarium oxysporum , the healthy soil microbiome contained more Streptomyces Mirabilis , Bradyrhizobiaceae , Comamonadaceae , Mortierella , and nonpathogenic fungi of Fusarium . Furthermore, a random forest method identified 45 bacterial OTUs and 40 fungal OTUs that categorized the health status of the soil with an accuracy >80%. We conclude that these models can be applied to predict the potential for occurrence of F. oxysporum wilt by revealing key biological indicators and features common to the wilt-diseased soil microbiome.

Based on the awareness-motivation-capability framework, this research examines how firm-level factors (environmental scanning and organizational slack) individually and collectively interact with institutional factors (government support and industry competition) to influence a firm’s adoption of green management. Moreover, we distinguish the impacts of green management on financial performance and innovation performance. The empirical findings reveal that environmental scanning and organizational slack facilitate green management, government support strengthens these positive relationships, and industry competition attenuates the effect of environmental scanning on green management. In addition, green management enhances innovation performance to a greater extent than financial performance. This research provides an integrative framework illustrating how firm-level factors and institutional environments influence green decisions and proposes that green management may impact firm performance measures in distinctive ways.

Prebiotics are compounds that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial microorganisms. The use of prebiotics is a well-established strategy for managing human gut health. This concept can also be extended to plants where plant rhizosphere microbiomes can improve the nutrient acquisition and disease resistance. However, we lack effective strategies for choosing metabolites to elicit the desired impacts on plant health. In this study, we target the rhizosphere of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) suffering from wilt disease (caused by Ralstonia solanacearum ) as source for potential prebiotic metabolites. We identify metabolites (ribose, lactic acid, xylose, mannose, maltose, gluconolactone, and ribitol) exclusively used by soil commensal bacteria (not positively correlated with R . solanacearum ) but not efficiently used by the pathogen in vitro. Metabolites application in the soil with 1 µmol g −1 soil effectively protects tomato and other Solanaceae crops, pepper ( Capsicum annuum ) and eggplant ( Solanum melongena ), from pathogen invasion. After adding prebiotics, the rhizosphere soil microbiome exhibits enrichment of pathways related to carbon metabolism and autotoxin degradation, which were driven by commensal microbes. Collectively, we propose a novel pathway for mining metabolites from the rhizosphere soil and their use as prebiotics to help control soil-borne bacterial wilt diseases. Prebiotics can be used to encourage beneficial organisms. Here, the authors select rhizosphere metabolites that can be used as prebiotics to reduce the effect of the plant pathogen Ralstonia .

Background Plants are capable of building up beneficial rhizosphere communities as is evidenced by disease-suppressive soils. However, it is not known how and why soil bacterial communities are impacted by plant exposure to foliar pathogens and if such responses might improve plant performance in the presence of the pathogen. Here, we conditioned soil by growing multiple generations (five) of Arabidopsis thaliana inoculated aboveground with Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato ( Pst ) in the same soil. We then examined rhizosphere communities and plant performance in a subsequent generation (sixth) grown in pathogen-conditioned versus control-conditioned soil. Moreover, we assessed the role of altered root exudation profiles in shaping the root microbiome of infected plants. Results Plants grown in conditioned soil showed increased levels of jasmonic acid and improved disease resistance. Illumina Miseq 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing revealed that both rhizosphere and bulk soil bacterial communities were altered by Pst infection. Infected plants exhibited significantly higher exudation of amino acids, nucleotides, and long-chain organic acids (LCOAs) (C > 6) and lower exudation levels for sugars, alcohols, and short-chain organic acids (SCOAs) (C ≤ 6). Interestingly, addition of exogenous amino acids and LCOA also elicited a disease-suppressive response. Conclusion Collectively, our data suggest that plants can recruit beneficial rhizosphere communities via modification of plant exudation patterns in response to exposure to aboveground pathogens to the benefit of subsequent plant generations.

Background Rhizosphere microbiome is dynamic and influenced by environment factors surrounded including pathogen invasion. We studied the effects of Ralstonia solanacearum pathogen abundance on rhizosphere microbiome and metabolome by using high throughput sequencing and GC-MS technology. Results There is significant difference between two rhizosphere bacterial communities of higher or lower pathogen abundance, and this difference of microbiomes was significant even ignoring the existence of pathogen. Higher pathogen abundance decreased the alpha diversity of rhizosphere bacterial community as well as connections in co-occurrence networks. Several bacterial groups such as Bacillus and Chitinophaga were negatively related to the pathogen abundance. The GC-MS analysis revealed significantly different metabolomes in two groups of rhizosphere soils, i.e., the rhizosphere soil of lower harbored more sugars such as fructose, sucrose and melibiose than that in high pathogen abundance. Conclusions The dissimilar metabolomes in two rhizosphere soils likely explained the difference of bacterial communities with Mantel test. Bacillus and Chitinophaga as well as sugar compounds negatively correlated with high abundance of pathogen indicated their potential biocontrol ability.

Niemann–Pick disease type C (NPC) is a devastating lysosomal storage disease characterized by abnormal cholesterol accumulation in lysosomes. Currently, there is no treatment for NPC. Transcription factor EB (TFEB), a member of the microphthalmia transcription factors (MiTF), has emerged as a master regulator of lysosomal function and promoted the clearance of substrates stored in cells. However, it is not known whether TFEB plays a role in cholesterol clearance in NPC disease. Here, we show that transgenic overexpression of TFEB, but not TFE3 (another member of MiTF family) facilitates cholesterol clearance in various NPC1 cell models. Pharmacological activation of TFEB by sulforaphane (SFN), a previously identified natural small-molecule TFEB agonist by us, can dramatically ameliorate cholesterol accumulation in human and mouse NPC1 cell models. In NPC1 cells, SFN induces TFEB nuclear translocation via a ROS-Ca 2+ -calcineurin-dependent but MTOR-independent pathway and upregulates the expression of TFEB-downstream genes, promoting lysosomal exocytosis and biogenesis. While genetic inhibition of TFEB abolishes the cholesterol clearance and exocytosis effect by SFN. In the NPC1 mouse model, SFN dephosphorylates/activates TFEB in the brain and exhibits potent efficacy of rescuing the loss of Purkinje cells and body weight. Hence, pharmacological upregulating lysosome machinery via targeting TFEB represents a promising approach to treat NPC and related lysosomal storage diseases, and provides the possibility of TFEB agonists, that is, SFN as potential NPC therapeutic candidates.

This study aims to refine clinical designs within clear aligner therapy, exploring the appropriate ratio of anterior tooth retraction to intrusion under maximum anchorage. Using a three-dimensional finite element model and evaluating 19 load scenarios with first premolar extraction, the research identifies the optimal force angle for anterior tooth retraction as 45 to 55°. For clinical planning, it is recommended to design a retraction of 0.19 mm combined with an intrusion of 0.16 mm to achieve anterior tooth retraction. This investigation is crucial for enhancing understanding of biomechanical principles in clear aligner orthodontics, offering significant insights for effective treatments.

Overgrazing‐induced grassland degradation has become a serious ecological problem worldwide. The diversity and composition of soil microbial communities are sensitive to grazing disturbances. However, our understanding is limited with respect to the effects of grazing intensity on bacterial and fungal communities, especially in plant rhizosphere. Using a long‐term grazing experiment, we evaluated the diversity and composition of microbial communities in both rhizosphere and non‐rhizosphere soils under three grazing intensities (light, moderate, and heavy grazing) in a desert grassland and examined the relative roles of grazing‐induced changes in some abiotic and biotic factors in affecting the diversity and composition of microbial communities. Our results showed that soil bacteria differed greatly in diversity and composition between rhizosphere and non‐rhizosphere zones, and so did soil fungi. Moderate and heavy grazing significantly reduced the rhizosphere bacterial diversity. Grazing intensity substantially altered the bacterial composition and the fungal composition in both zones but with different mechanisms. While root nitrogen and soil nitrogen played an important role in shaping the rhizosphere bacterial composition, soil‐available phosphorus greatly affected the non‐rhizosphere bacterial composition and the fungal composition in both soils. This study provides direct experimental evidence that the diversity and composition of microbial communities were severely altered by heavy grazing on a desert grassland. Thus, to restore the grazing‐induced, degraded grasslands, we should pay more attention to the conservation of soil microbes in addition to vegetation recovery. Our study found that grazing in fragile ecosystems had a stronger effect on rhizosphere soil microorganisms than in non‐rhizosphere soil. The restoration and protection of rhizosphere microbial community should be emphasized when considering the restoration of degraded grassland.

Background Heterodera avenae  (cereal cyst nematode, CCN) infects wheat and causes severe yield losses. CCN infestations can be decreased by applying phosphate fertilizer in wheat fields, but the underlying mechanisms are still largely unclear. Results In this study, the relationships among CCN, wheat root morphological traits, soil P fractions, and soil phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere were investigated with single superphosphate (SSP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) application and without phosphate fertilizer (CK) application. APP most effectively inhibited the occurrence of CCN, with the number of cysts decreasing by 48.8%, and was decreased by 31.6%, 33.9%, and 16.4% in SSP, MAP, and DAP treatments, respectively. With APP, the concentrations of Resin-Pi and NaOH-Pi in rhizosphere soil increased significantly, and the proportional lengths of medium (1–3 mm) and coarse roots (> 3 mm) increased, while that of fine roots (0–1 mm diameter) decreased. Moreover, soil phosphatase activity decreased along with highest shoot P accumulation in APP treatment, suggesting that P nutrition provided by APP is more easily absorbed by wheat than the other tested fertilizers. Furthermore, negative relationships were observed between cyst numbers and shoot P accumulation ( r = -0.87, p  < 0.001), coarse root length proportion ( r = -0.59, p  < 0.01), Resin-Pi ( r = -0.50, p  < 0.05), and NaOH-Pi concentrations ( r = -0.57, p  < 0.01). SEM analysis indicated that the concentrations of Resin-Pi and NaOH-Pi increased by phosphate fertilizer additions, enhancing shoot P accumulation and inhibiting the occurrence of CCN in wheat. Conclusions As an effective P source that elevates rhizosphere Resin-Pi and NaOH-Pi, APP not only promotes wheat growth by enhancing P uptake, but also increases the resistance of wheat against CCN. These findings provide an in-depth understanding of the control of CCN through phosphate fertilization management, enabling sustainable agricultural development.

To explore high-quality phage resources for controlling Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) contamination, a virulent phage vB-Efa1 was isolated and purified from poultry slaughterhouse sewage in this study. Its biological characteristics, whole-genome features, and potential in ensuring poultry product processing safety were systematically investigated. The phage belongs to the Siphoviridae family, with an optimal multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.1 and a titer of 8.87 lg PFU/mL; it has a 30 min latent period and stable lytic activity, retaining good stability at 25–37 °C, pH 6–8, and 4 °C. Its circular whole genome is 166,586 bp in length with a GC content of 35.46%, encoding 276 genes; no antibiotic resistance genes were detected, and only one low-pathogenic-risk virulence-related sequence was identified. Application tests in poultry products revealed that temperature is the key factor regulating phage titer: the titer stably maintained 5.5–6.6 lg PFU/mL at 4 °C, while proliferating significantly at 25 °C, reaching 7.55–8.38 lg PFU/mL at 12 h. Collectively, vB-Efa1 exhibits superior biological traits, environmental adaptability, and biosafety, making it a promising biocontrol candidate for mitigating E. faecalis contamination in poultry products.