Fig. 1: Effects of the SynCom in the presence of two protists on the pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum with implications for plant performance.

a Two protists (Cercomonas and Naegleria) propagated with E. coli DH5α and R. solanacearum (n = 6 biologically independent samples); b Abundance of protists (Cercomonas or Naegleria or both two protists) after co-cultivation with R. solanacearum for 24 h (n = 6 biologically independent samples); c Density of R. solanacearum after co-cultivation with protists (Cercomonas or Naegleria or both two protists) for 24 h (n = 6 biologically independent samples); d Fluorescence intensity of R. solanacearum over time under the predation by protists (Cercomonas or Naegleria or both) (n = 3 biologically independent samples); e Inhibition zones of SynCom on the phytopathogen R. solanacearum in the presence of two protists (n = 4 biologically independent experiments); f Representative photos of tomato growth under different treatments including the SynCom, two protists (Cercomonas or Naegleria), and the SynCom in the presence of protists (two times the experiment was repeated with similar results); Height (g) and fresh weight (h) of tomato plants under different treatments (n = 6 biologically independent plants). The two-protist treatment consisted of co-inoculating Cercomonas and Naegleria at a 1:1 ratio of cell density, the box plot includes scatter points, whiskers, the upper quartile, the median, and the lower quartile; “*” indicates significant differences (P-value < 0.05) under Student’s t-test; different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (one-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis H test with LSD for multiple comparisons, P-value < 0.05).