Heat drives tomato bacterial wilt through enhanced pathogen virulence and rhizosphere microbiome and metabolic shifts

ABSTRACT: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is globally widespread and strongly associated with elevated temperature, yet the ecological mechanisms underlying temperature-driven disease outbreaks remains unclear. Here, we show that high temperature promotes bacterial wilt by reconfiguring the tomato rhizosphere system across multiple biological scales. High temperature enhanced pathogen growth and virulence, accompanied by transcriptional activation of motility, quorum sensing, and environmental sensing pathways. Concurrently, heat stress suppressed plant performance and destabilized the rhizosphere microbiome, leading to reduced diversity and depletion of beneficial taxa. Metabolomic analyses further revealed a temperature-driven shift from defense-associated metabolites to amino acids and nucleosides, creating a metabolically permissive niche for pathogen establishment. Guided by these insights, a heat-adapted synthetic microbial community effectively suppressed disease and restored plant growth under high-temperature conditions. Together, our findings reveal temperature as a central driver of rhizosphere reprogramming and highlight microbiome engineering as a promising strategy for climate-resilient disease control.

INSTRUMENT(S): Liquid Chromatography MS - positive - hilic, Liquid Chromatography MS - negative - hilic

PROVIDER: MTBLS14437 | MetaboLights | 2026-05-31

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights