Pathobiomes of Tropical Crops: Host-Microbiome-Pathogen Interactions and Sustainable Disease Management

Tropical and subtropical crops support global food supply, high-value commodity chains, bioenergy production, and the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. However, these cropping systems face intensifying pressures from pathogens, shifting climates, and complex microbial communities that can either exacerbate disease or contribute to disease suppression. While many diseases are well recognized, the mechanistic drivers of disease emergence, outbreak dynamics, and chronic crop decline are often unresolved, particularly when multiple microbes and environmental stressors act together. Moreover, robust, field-deployable diagnostics and scalable, ecologically sustainable management strategies remain limited for many tropical pathosystems.This Research Topic focuses on the interaction biology underlying tropical crop pathobiomes. It integrates pathogen population biology, virulence strategies, plant immune responses, and microbiome ecology to explain how multi-microbial communities and environmental stressors influence disease trajectories and plant resilience. The collection welcomes both mechanistic and enabling studies (e.g., methods and resources) that move from association to function, and that help bridge fundamental plant-microbe interaction research with practical outcomes such as field-ready diagnostics and robust biocontrol.We welcome submissions on tropical and subtropical crops, including but not limited to the following themes:o Genetic diversity, evolution, population structure, and epidemiology of fungal, bacterial, viral, phytoplasma, and nematode pathogens across tropical cropping systems.o Pathogenic mechanisms and host adaptation, including virulence genes, effector proteins, toxins, and secondary metabolites, and their links to disease outcomes.o Host–pathogen–microbiome interactions resolved by metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and integrative multi-omics.o Rhizospheric, phyllospheric, and endophytic microbiomes in healthy versus diseased plants, including functional traits associated with disease suppression or susceptibility.o Field-deployable diagnostics and surveillance pipelines (portable sequencing, rapid molecular assays), risk assessment, and biosecurity for emerging threats.o Biocontrol and microbiome-based management: mechanisms, optimization, formulation, and reproducible field performance of single strains or consortia.o Emerging and interdisciplinary approaches, such as AI-assisted epidemiology, predictive modeling, comparative cross-crop studies, and climate-resilience frameworks for tropical pathobiomes. Topic editors: Rong-Yue Zhang, Amit Yadav, Hui-Li Zhang, Chengwu Zou Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76856/pathobiomes-of-tropical-crops-host-microbiome-pathogen-interactions-and-sustainable-disease-management