Exploitation of plant growth promoting (PGP) rhizobacteria (PGPR) as crop inoculants could propel sustainable intensification of agriculture to feed our rapidly growing population. However, field performance of PGPR is typically inconsistent due to suboptimal rhizosphere colonisation and persistence in foreign soils, promiscuous host-specificity, and in some cases, the existence of undesirable genetic regulation that has evolved to repress PGP traits. While the genetics underlying these problems remain largely unresolved, molecular mechanisms of PGP have been elucidated in rigorous detail. Engineering and subsequent transfer of PGP traits into selected efficacious rhizobacterial isolates or entire bacterial rhizosphere communities now offers a powerful strategy to generate improved PGPR that are tailored for agricultural use. Through harnessing of synthetic plant-to-bacteria signalling, attempts are currently underway to establish exclusive coupling of plant-bacteria interactions in the field, which will be crucial to optimise efficacy and establish biocontainment of engineered PGPR. This review explores the many ecological and biotechnical facets of this research.

利用植物促生长 (PGP) 根际细菌 (PGPR) 作为作物接种剂可以推动农业的可持续集约化，以养活我们快速增长的人口。然而，由于次优的根际定植和在异质土壤中的持久性、混杂的宿主特异性，以及在某些情况下，进化为抑制 PGP 性状的不良遗传调控的存在，PGPR 的田间表现通常是不一致的。虽然这些问题背后的遗传学在很大程度上仍未得到解决，但 PGP 的分子机制已得到详尽的阐明。将 PGP 特性工程化并随后转移到选定的有效根际细菌分离株或整个细菌根际群落中，现在提供了一种强大的策略来生成适合农业用途的改良 PGPR。通过利用合成的植物-细菌信号，目前正在尝试在田间建立植物-细菌相互作用的独家耦合，这对于优化功效和建立工程 PGPR 的生物防护至关重要。这篇综述探讨了这项研究的许多生态和生物技术方面。