Emerging diseases: trend research and omics-based analysis reveals mechanisms of endophytes modulate Chilli plant resilience

Abstract

Chili pepper, widely recognized as a popular spice and an important cash crop worldwide, faces significant threats from climate change-related stress, particularly plant disease outbreaks. Emerging global diseases like Phytophthora blight, anthracnose fruit rot, and Ralstonia bacterial wilt threaten chili-producing countries, causing substantial annual yield losses. These major threatening diseases are difficult to control due to their widespread, extensive, and long-lived survival structures. Disease management practices rely on agrochemicals, leading to resistance to phytopathogens and environmental issues. Current research focuses on developing innovative, effective, chemical-free, and sustainable biosecurity strategies to address these challenges. Endophytes are plant endosymbionts that provide new insights for scientists due to their remarkable genome regulation to host plants. This review highlights the current state of emerging global diseases affecting chili pepper crops based on bibliometric analysis. We also focus on endophytes-mediated plant defense response as a sustainable solution for chemical pesticides. This review discusses the importance of omics-based technologies in deciphering the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of endophytes-mediated chili plant tolerance to various pathogens. A holistic approach of plant endophytes and multi-omics technologies can help develop effective mitigation strategies to prevent disease outbreaks for sustainable crop production and environmental restoration in the modern era of Agriculture 4.0 ‒ a green agricultural revolution.