Rhizosphere metabolic cross-talk from plant-soil-microbe tapping into agricultural sustainability: Current advance and perspectives

Rhizosphere interactions from plant-soil-microbiome occur dynamically all the time in the "black microzone" underground, where we can't see intuitively. Rhizosphere metabolites including root exudates and microbial metabolites act as various chemical signalings involving in rhizosphere interactions, and play vital roles on plant growth, development, disease suppression and resistance to stress conditions as well as proper soil health. Although rhizosphere metabolites are a mixture from plant roots and soil microbes, they often are discussed alone. As a rapid appearance of various omics platforms and analytical methods, it offers possibilities and opportunities for exploring rhizosphere interactions in unprecedented breadth and depth. However, our comprehensive understanding about the fine-tuning mechanisms of rhizosphere interactions mediated by these chemical compounds still remain clear. Thus, this review summarizes recent advances systemically including the features of rhizosphere metabolites and their effects on rhizosphere ecosystem, and looks forward to the future research perspectives, which contributes to facilitating better understanding of biochemical communications belowground and helping identify novel rhizosphere metabolites. We also address challenges for promoting the understanding about the roles of rhizosphere metabolites in different environmental stresses.