Cotton Microbiome Profiling and Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) Suppression through Microbial Consortia associated with Gossypium arboreum

The failure of breeding strategies has caused scientists to shift to other means where the new approach involves exploring the microbiome to modulate plant defense mechanisms against CLCuD. The cotton microbiome of CLCuD-resistant varieties may harbor a multitude of bacterial genera that significantly contribute to disease resistance and provide information on metabolic pathways that differ between the susceptible and resistant varieties. The current study aimed to explore the microbiome of CLCuD-susceptible Gossypium hirsutum and CLCuD-resistant Gossypium arboreum. Microbial community surveys performed using 16S rRNA gene amplification revealed that Pseudomonas inhabited the rhizosphere while Bacillus was predominantly found in the phyllosphere of CLCuV-tolerant G. arboreum. The study was done for the leaf endophyte, leaf epiphyte, rhizosphere, and root endophyte of the two cotton species. Furthermore, our disease incidence assay using pot experiments has revealed mechanistic insights through salicylic acid-producing Serratia spp. and Fictibacillus spp. isolated from CLCuD-resistant G. arboreum, which exhibited viral disease suppression and induced systemic resistance in CLCuD susceptible G. hirsutum.