Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes.

Authors

Avi Bograd, Yaara Oppenheimer-Shaanan, Asaf Levy

Published in

Genome biology. Volume 26. Issue 1. Pages 163. Jun 11, 2025. Epub Jun 11, 2025.

Abstract

Plant-associated bacteria significantly impact plant growth and health. Understanding how bacterial genomes adapt to plants can provide insights into their growth promotion and virulence functions. Here, we compare 38,912 bacterial genomes and 6073 metagenomes to explore the distribution of mobile genetic elements and defense systems in plant-associated bacteria. We reveal a consistent taxon-independent depletion of prophages, plasmids, and defense systems in plant-associated bacteria, particularly in the phyllosphere, compared to other ecosystems. The mobilome depletion suggests the presence of unique ecological constraints or molecular mechanisms exerted by plants to control the bacterial mobilomes independently of bacterial immunity.

PMID:
40500753
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Jun 2025.

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