Sato Yasuhiro, Wuest Samuel E
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku N10W5, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan.
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland.
Plant Cell Physiol. 2025 May 17;66(4):477-489. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcae092.
Plants are typically surrounded by neighboring individuals in agricultural fields or natural environments. In such circumstances, plant-plant interactions (PPI) are ubiquitous and represent not only important evolutionary forces but also have consequences on (agro-)ecosystem functioning, such as increased productivity and resistance. However, many mechanisms underlying these PPIs remain poorly understood. Recently, new genomic technologies and tools, such as genome-wide association studies, have facilitated genetic approaches to study PPIs, particularly among conspecific individuals. Here, we highlight emerging issues and advances in the field by focusing on three different aspects. First, we overview the current status of genetic mapping studies on PPIs and pinpoint that these studies open a new opportunity that is relevant to agriculture and breeding. Second, we introduce two proof-of-concept studies in Arabidopsis thaliana, in which genetic differences among plants improved the functioning of genotype mixtures. Both studies were able to predict effective mixtures with different experimental designs applied to different outcomes (productivity increase versus herbivory mitigation). Third, we discuss implications from these case studies about how PPIs have cascading effects that propagate to higher levels of biological organization, such as populations or communities. At the population level, plant yield or resistance can be optimized through breeding that achieves reduced competition or push-pull protection systems, respectively. At the community level, these population-level changes may have further beneficial effects on plant-associated organisms. Overall, we suggest that the increasing availability of genomic resources will improve our understanding of PPIs and thereby contribute to the management of crops or seminatural ecosystems.
在农田或自然环境中，植物通常被相邻个体所环绕。在这种情况下，植物间相互作用（PPI）无处不在，不仅是重要的进化驱动力，还会对（农业）生态系统功能产生影响，比如提高生产力和抗性。然而，这些植物间相互作用背后的许多机制仍知之甚少。最近，新的基因组技术和工具，如全基因组关联研究，推动了研究植物间相互作用的遗传学方法，特别是在同种个体之间。在这里，我们通过关注三个不同方面来突出该领域新出现的问题和进展。首先，我们概述了植物间相互作用遗传图谱研究的现状，并指出这些研究开启了一个与农业和育种相关的新机遇。其次，我们介绍了拟南芥中的两项概念验证研究，其中植物间的遗传差异改善了基因型混合物的功能。这两项研究都能够通过应用于不同结果（提高生产力与减轻食草作用）的不同实验设计来预测有效的混合物。第三，我们讨论这些案例研究的启示，即植物间相互作用如何产生级联效应，并传播到更高层次的生物组织，如种群或群落。在种群层面，可以分别通过实现减少竞争的育种或推拉保护系统来优化植物产量或抗性。在群落层面，这些种群层面的变化可能会对与植物相关的生物产生进一步的有益影响。总体而言，我们认为基因组资源的日益丰富将增进我们对植物间相互作用的理解，从而有助于作物或半自然生态系统的管理。
