Protists modulate Fusarium root rot suppression by beneficial bacteria

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Plant health largely depends on root-associated microorganisms that inhibit pathogens. Enriching the rhizosphere microbiome with beneficial bacteria has a high potential of supporting future sustainable food production. However, the introduced microorganisms often show low activity with a low survival rate. We propose to solve this limitation by co-inoculating beneficial bacteria with protists. Free-living protists are one of the main regulators of bacterial activity in the rhizosphere and can increase the density and activity of pathogen-suppressive microbes. We therefore hypothesized that protist-bacteria interactions may serve to enhance plant protection against soil-borne pathogens. We tested whether co-inoculating beneficial bacteria with protists increases plant protection against Fusarium solani S55, a fungal pathogen causing root rot. We inoculated Vicia faba seedlings with the disease-suppressing bacteria Rahnella aquatilis B16C and Pseudomonas yamanorum B12, alone or in combination with three different bacterivorous soil protists, Rosculus terrestris S14D1, Bodomorpha sp. C10D3 and Cercomonas lenta C5D5. We grew plants in Fusarium-infested soil and recorded the effect of inoculation on disease severity and pathogen density. We demonstrated that introduced bacteria and protists synergistically impact plant health. When introduced alone, both bacteria and protists provided a partial protection against Fusarium rot. Protists further modulated the performance of the bacteria in an idiosyncratic way, with some combinations offering an almost complete Fusarium solani S55 suppression.These results suggest that protists could form the base of a new generation of biological control strategies of soil-borne diseases, either as a standalone inoculant or as an enhancer of beneficial bacteria.