合成菌群在促进农业可持续发展中的研究进展

Research progress on synthetic microbial communities in promoting sustainable agriculture development

摘要:

目前，全球农业可持续发展面临土壤退化、资源限制和环境污染等多重压力。随着人口持续增长，以及对粮食品质需求的不断提高，提升土壤健康水平已成为保障粮食安全的重要基础。虽然化肥在保障植物高产优质方面发挥着重要作用，但其过量或不合理使用会造成土壤酸化、水体富营养化等环境问题。植物根际有益微生物在宿主养分吸收、胁迫耐受性以及适应环境变化过程中发挥着重要作用。其中，合成菌群(synthetic microbial communities, SynComs)是通过定向设计功能明确、遗传背景清晰的多个微生物组合，从而实现单一菌株无法完成的复杂功能。它是破解植物-土壤-微生物关键界面互作机制的有力工具，在植物养分高效利用、抗逆性提升和化肥减量增效等方面发挥着关键作用。本文分析了SynComs的概念演化以及当前的研究态势，系统阐述了其构建原则、方法及技术工具，并从促进植物生长、抵抗生物和非生物胁迫、改善和恢复土壤健康等方面，概述了SynComs在农业可持续发展中的作用。最后，展望了未来的研究方向，应重视靶向型菌剂的研发、人工智能(artificial intelligence, AI)技术在群落构建中的应用，以及提高SynComs在田间应用的效果，为利用近自然微生物手段解决粮食安全、资源高效利用和环境保护的多目标协同发展问题提供支撑，进而推动我国农业绿色发展。

Abstract:

Currently, the sustainable development of global agriculture is facing multiple challenges, including soil degradation, resource constraints, and environmental pollution. With the continuous growth of the population and the increasing demand for food quality, improving soil health has become a crucial foundation for ensuring food security. Although chemical fertilizers play an important role in maintaining the high yields and high quality of plants, their excessive or unreasonable use can cause environmental problems, such as soil acidification and water eutrophication. Rhizosphere microbial communities play an essential role in plant nutrient acquisition, tolerance to environmental stress, and adaptation to environmental changes. Among them, synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) are designed via the targeted assembly of multiple microorganisms with well-defined functions and clear genetic backgrounds, enabling the achievement of complex functionalities that cannot be accomplished by single strains. They are powerful tools for deciphering the key interface interaction mechanisms among plants, soil, and microorganisms and play a vital role in promoting efficient utilization of plant nutrients, enhancing plant stress resistance, and increasing the efficiency and reducing the application of fertilizers. This study reviews the conceptual evolution, current research trends, and construction principles, methods, and tools of SynComs, and summarizes the role of SynComs in the sustainable development of agriculture from the aspects of promoting plant growth, inhibiting biotic and abiotic stresses, and improving and restoring soil health. Furthermore, this paper makes an outlook on the future research directions and emphasizes the research and development of targeted microbial agents, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in community assembly, and the performance improvement of SynComs in field applications, aiming to support the coordinated and multi-objective development of food security, efficient resource utilization, and environmental protection through near-natural microbial means, thereby facilitating the green agricultural development of China.