Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 246-256 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 246 Research Insight Open Access Root Exudates and Their Influence on Wheat Soil Microbiome LinLiu 1, Xiaoqing Tang2 1 Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China 2 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China Corresponding author: xiaoqing.tang@hibio.org Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.5 doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0025 Received: 19 Sep., 2025 Accepted: 21 Oct., 2025 Published: 31 Oct., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Liu and Tang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Liu L., and Tang X.Q., 2025, Root exudates and their influence on wheat soil microbiome, Molecular Pathogens, 16(5): 246-256 (doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0025) Abstract Root exudates are a general term for various compounds released by plants into the soil environment through their roots and play a key role in the interaction between plants and soil microorganisms. This study takes wheat (Triticum aestivum) as the research object, reviews the composition characteristics and dynamic changes of root exudates from a microbiological perspective, and explores the mechanism by which root exudates affect the structure and function of soil microbial communities, including the selective effect of exudates on microbial diversity and the signal communication mechanism. At the same time, typical cases were used to analyze the enrichment effect of wheat root exudates on growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR), as well as the allelopathic and antibacterial functions of root exudates in inhibiting pathogenic microorganisms. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for understanding signal regulation at the plant-microbe interface. By exploring the rules by which root exudates regulate the structure and function of microbial communities, we can provide a biological basis for the development of microbial growth-promoting resources and green prevention and control strategies. At the same time, combined with the needs of sustainable agricultural development, the research results are expected to provide new ideas for improving soil health, increasing crop stress resistance and yield, and promoting the development of ecological agriculture and precision agriculture technology. Keywords Wheat; Root exudates; Soil microbial community; Growth-promoting bacteria; Rhizosphere interaction 1 Introduction Soil microbiota is an important driving force in maintaining farmland ecosystem functions, and microorganisms in the wheat rhizosphere are closely related to plant growth and health. As one of the most important food crops in the world, wheat's rhizosphere microecological balance plays a decisive role in high and stable crop yields. However, under intensive agricultural conditions, problems such as decreased soil microbial diversity (Weston et al., 2024) and dysfunction have become increasingly prominent, and it is necessary to deeply understand the interaction mechanism between plants and microorganisms to promote sustainable agricultural development. In recent years, with the development of high-throughput sequencing, metabolomics and other technologies, a lot of progress has been made in the study of plant root exudates and their impact on the rhizosphere microbiome. Research shows that plants can release a variety of compounds through their roots, including sugars, organic acids, amino acids, phenolic acids, secondary metabolites, etc., thereby shaping specific rhizosphere microbial communities (Korenblum et al., 2022). Root exudates of wheat and other grass crops contain some unique components, such as benzoxazinoids, coumarins, etc., which are reported to be secreted in wheat and rice and have biological activity. In addition, the quantity and composition of root exudates are dynamic and affected by plant species, growth stages and environmental conditions. A large amount of experimental evidence reveals that root exudates play an important role in recruiting growth-promoting bacteria and inhibiting soil-borne pathogens, and are the key media for plants to achieve "bacteria to treat bacteria" and "bacteria to promote growth" (Mwendwa et al., 2021). This study focuses on this topic, taking into account the research progress at home and abroad in recent years, and discusses the following aspects: the main composition types and dynamic secretion characteristics of wheat root exudates, including the differences between different wheat varieties; the mechanism by which root exudates
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==