Steering soil microbiomes to suppress aboveground insect pests

Abstract

Soil-borne microbes affect aboveground herbivorous insects through a cascade of molecular and chemical changes in the plant, but knowledge of these microbe–plant–insect interactions is mostly limited to one or a few microbial strains. Yet, the soil microbial community comprises thousands of unique taxa interacting in complex networks, the so-called ‘microbiome’, which provides plants with multiple beneficial functions. There has been little exploration of the role and management of whole microbiomes in plant–insect interactions, calling for the integration of this complexity in aboveground–belowground research. Here, we propose holistic approaches to select soil microbiomes that can be used to protect plants from aboveground attackers.