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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Plant Signaling & Behavior

Engineering the plant holobiont for enhanced abiotic stress resilience: current insights and future directions

  • Malvin Albert1
  • Mehrdad Alizadeh2
  • Thomas Argyarich Jefferson1
  • Dedat Prismantoro3
  • Reginawanti Hindersah4
  • Ravindra Chandra Joshi5
  • Wiwiek Harsonowati6
  • Kah-Ooi Chua7,8
  • Nandang Permadi9
  • Mia Miranti1
  • Febri Doni1
9 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, Indonesia
  2. 2Department of Soil Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3Doctorate Program in Biotechnology, Graduate School, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, Indonesia
  4. 4Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, Indonesia
  5. 5Philippine Rice Research Institute, Maligaya, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
  6. 6Research Center for Horticulture, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), West Java, Indonesia
  7. 7Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  8. 8Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  9. 9Research Center for Food Crops, Research Organization for Agriculture and Food, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), West Java, Indonesia
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Abstract

Climate change has intensified abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, and salinity, posing major threats to agricultural productivity and global food security. Conventional strategies to improve crop tolerance often face limitations in efficiency, sustainability, and environmental adaptability, underscoring the need for innovative approaches. This review focuses on the plant holobiont, which views plants and their associated microbiomes as an integrated functional unit in governing stress adaptation. Abiotic stress can disrupt plant-associated microbial communities, leading to dysbiosis and reduced holobiont resilience. Beneficial microorganisms, including plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, endophytes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, can enhance stress tolerance by improving nutrient acquisition, regulating phytohormone signaling, strengthening antioxidant defenses, maintaining osmotic balance, and modulating stress-responsive gene expression. Emerging evidence suggests that these interactions contribute to the establishment of holobiont stress adaptation through biochemical signaling, microenvironmental modification, and epigenetic regulation, enabling plants to respond more effectively to recurrent stress. Advances in microbiome engineering, particularly through the development of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs), offer promising opportunities to restore microbial functions and enhance crop resilience under changing climatic conditions. The integration of multi-omics technologies, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture is expected to accelerate the development of microbiome-based solutions for sustainable crop production. Collectively, microbiome engineering represents a promising, environmentally sustainable strategy to enhance the holobiont’s adaptive resilience and improve long-term plant performance under abiotic stress.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{albert2026engineering,
  title = {{Engineering the plant holobiont for enhanced abiotic stress resilience: current insights and future directions}},
  author = {Malvin Albert and Mehrdad Alizadeh and Thomas Argyarich Jefferson and Dedat Prismantoro and Reginawanti Hindersah and Ravindra Chandra Joshi and Wiwiek Harsonowati and Kah-Ooi Chua and Nandang Permadi and Mia Miranti and Febri Doni},
  journal = {Plant Signaling \& Behavior},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1080/15592324.2026.2752710},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2026.2752710},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Engineering the plant holobiont for enhanced abiotic stress resilience: current insights and future directions
AU  - Malvin Albert
AU  - Mehrdad Alizadeh
AU  - Thomas Argyarich Jefferson
AU  - Dedat Prismantoro
AU  - Reginawanti Hindersah
AU  - Ravindra Chandra Joshi
AU  - Wiwiek Harsonowati
AU  - Kah-Ooi Chua
AU  - Nandang Permadi
AU  - Mia Miranti
AU  - Febri Doni
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - Plant Signaling & Behavior
DO  - 10.1080/15592324.2026.2752710
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2026.2752710
AB  - Climate change has intensified abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, and salinity, posing major threats to agricultural productivity and global food security. Conventional strategies to improve crop tolerance often face limitations in efficiency, sustainability, and environmental adaptability, underscoring the need for innovative approaches. This review focuses on the plant holobiont, which views plants and their associated microbiomes as an integrated functional unit in governing stress adaptation. Abiotic stress can disrupt plant-associated microbial communities, leading to dysbiosis and reduced holobiont resilience. Beneficial microorganisms, including plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, endophytes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, can enhance stress tolerance by improving nutrient acquisition, regulating phytohormone signaling, strengthening antioxidant defenses, maintaining osmotic balance, and modulating stress-responsive gene expression. Emerging evidence suggests that these interactions contribute to the establishment of holobiont stress adaptation through biochemical signaling, microenvironmental modification, and epigenetic regulation, enabling plants to respond more effectively to recurrent stress. Advances in microbiome engineering, particularly through the development of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs), offer promising opportunities to restore microbial functions and enhance crop resilience under changing climatic conditions. The integration of multi-omics technologies, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture is expected to accelerate the development of microbiome-based solutions for sustainable crop production. Collectively, microbiome engineering represents a promising, environmentally sustainable strategy to enhance the holobiont’s adaptive resilience and improve long-term plant performance under abiotic stress.
SN  - 1559-2316
SN  - 1559-2324
ER  -