Viruses as Plant Protectors

© Borjana Arsova

Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich are investigating how natural viruses that specifically infect bacteria can help plants fight off bacterial pathogens. These bacteriophages open up new prospects for more environmentally friendly plant protection and could make an important contribution to safeguarding harvests in the face of increasing heatwaves and growing pressures on agriculture.

In a recent study published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers investigated how bacteriophages work during a bacterial infection of plants. The study involved researchers from the teams led by Prof. Julia Frunzke, Dr. Borjana Arsova, and Prof. Guido Grossmann from the Institute of Cell and Interaction Biology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.

The model plant used in the study was Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of rapeseed and cabbage that is frequently used in research. The plants were infected with the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. Some of the infected plants were also treated with a suitable bacteriophage.

The study revealed that, during the testing period, infected plants treated with phages grew just as well as non-infected control plants. The phages reduced the number of harmful bacteria, and the bacteria exhibited lower virulence – in other words, they caused less severe disease. At the same time, the plants had a weaker immune response than the infected plants without phages. This suggests that the plants suffered less severely from the infection.

Press release from Forschungszentrum Jülich

Original publication:

Erdrich SH, Keilhammer M, Sharma S, Zupinski M, Schurr U, Grossmann G, Frunzke J & Arsova B, (2026), Phage biocontrol reduces the disease burden and modulates plant immunity through suppression of bacterial virulence Cell Reports 45(7):117622 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117622 

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