Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Soil, a fundamental component of terrestrial ecosystems, is not just a medium for plant growth but a critical element in sustaining life on Earth. It provides a wide range of ecosystem services, many of which are mediated by diverse soil processes and functions driven by soil biodiversity. Among these biological components, the soil microbiome plays a central role in regulating plant health, nutrient cycling, stress adaptation, and biomass production. Emerging research highlights the promise of both targeted and untargeted strategies for managing soil microbial communities to sustainably enhance crop yields, nutritional value, and food safety. In the context of sustainable agriculture, the intricate interactions between plants and their associated soil microbiomes are increasingly recognized as essential. Advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies, integrative omics platforms, and gene editing tools have significantly accelerated our ability to dissect these complex relationships. Omics approaches encompassing genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and beyond have revolutionized our capacity to investigate microbial diversity and the dynamic interactions between plants and microbes across diverse ecological landscapes and temporal scales. By leveraging multi-omics strategies, researchers can now construct intricate, systems-level models of plant-microbiome interactions. This not only facilitates predictions of microbial and plant responses under various environmental stressors but also unlocks promising avenues for the future of sustainable agriculture. This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on plant-microbe interactions, with a strong emphasis on the crucial and captivating role of established and emerging multi-omics methodologies in unraveling the complexity of soil microbial diversity and functional dynamics across ecological gradients.