TY - JOUR
T1 - Benefits and challenges of upcoming microbial plant protection applications sustaining planetary health
AU - Papadopoulou, Kalliope Κ.
AU - Chatzinotas, Antonis
AU - Diaz-Otero, Belén Guijarro
AU - Brader, Günter
AU - Karpouzas, Dimitrios G.
AU - Ruiz, Monica Garces
AU - Prados, José Luis Alonso
AU - Declerck, Stéphane
AU - Kellari, Loukia M.
AU - Sessitsch, Angela
PY - 2025/9/15
Y1 - 2025/9/15
N2 - Plant disease outbreaks pose severe risks to global food security. Due to climate change, new diseases are expected to emerge, and the current use of chemical pesticides poses risks to environmental and human health. In the last decade, alternative plant protection agents of microbial origin have been developed, which also rise great expectations in the industry. Current products primarily represent individual microbial strains, either fungi or bacteria, which occasionally fail under field conditions due to various factors while their regulatory status differs globally. Recently, more diverse applications have started to emerge, ranging from microbial consortia, phages and protists to microbiome modulation or soil translocation. Integrated solutions, incorporating artificial intelligence are also proposed. In this review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of these solutions, providing specific examples and discuss the regulatory needs for their market entry as well as their relevance for improving food security and planetary health.
AB - Plant disease outbreaks pose severe risks to global food security. Due to climate change, new diseases are expected to emerge, and the current use of chemical pesticides poses risks to environmental and human health. In the last decade, alternative plant protection agents of microbial origin have been developed, which also rise great expectations in the industry. Current products primarily represent individual microbial strains, either fungi or bacteria, which occasionally fail under field conditions due to various factors while their regulatory status differs globally. Recently, more diverse applications have started to emerge, ranging from microbial consortia, phages and protists to microbiome modulation or soil translocation. Integrated solutions, incorporating artificial intelligence are also proposed. In this review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of these solutions, providing specific examples and discuss the regulatory needs for their market entry as well as their relevance for improving food security and planetary health.
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113557
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113557
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113557
M3 - Article
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 28
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 10
ER -