Cross-kingdom endosymbiosis rewires the rhizobiome for fungal pathogenicity.

Intracellular bacterial endosymbionts in Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici drive fungal metabolic reprogramming that produces a selective toxin, suppressing keystone beneficial rhizobacteria.

• Why it matters: Soil-borne fungal pathogens can disrupt the protective rhizosphere microbiome, but the cross-kingdom mechanism that enables this subversion was unclear.
• What they did: Zhou et al. uncovered a cross-kingdom endosymbiotic mechanism in which bacterial endosymbionts inside the fungus reprogram fungal metabolism to generate a selective toxin.
• The result: The toxin is linked to suppression of keystone beneficial rhizobacteria, implying endosymbiont-driven metabolic changes can rewire the rhizobiome toward fungal pathogenicity.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.