The MAMBO project of the Major Challenge on Biocontrol and Biostimulation for Agroecology

Launched on 1 March 2024, the Grand Challenge on Biocontrol and Biostimulation for Agroecology (GDBB) is led by the Association for Biocontrol and Biostimulation for Agroecology (ABBA). It reached a major milestone with the approval of its first four flagship projects by the Prime Minister and the Secretary General for Investment under the France 2030 programme on 2 September 2025. These projects will lay the foundations for a national Distributed Infrastructure, whose purpose is to advance the development of biocontrol and biostimulation solutions, with a particular focus on experimentation. Among these four flagship projects is MAMBO (MoleculAr Modeling to Optimize and Develop Tools for Evaluating Biosolutions for SOil and Plant Health ) led by Jean-Luc Cacas ("Germination Physiology" PHYGERM team) et Massimiliano Corso ("Seed - Development, Regulation, and Metabolism" SEED-DREAM team). 

Over the years, it has become clear that biocontrol (BC) and biostimulation (BS) bio-solutions often lose effectiveness when transferred from the laboratory to the field. MAMBO adopts a systemic approach, studying plants, the holobiont, environment, and agricultural practices, and will be a component of a future distributed infrastructure focused on BC and BS bio-solutions. Using high-throughput multi-omics, statistical analyses, and modeling, MAMBO evaluates and optimizes bio-solution effectiveness. The consortium will implement omics approaches to assess plant and soil health, integrating pedoclimatic and physiological data to identify molecular signatures and predictive biomarkers. These methods and data will improve understanding of BC and BS modes of action and other agroecological levers, support the development of decision-support, phenotyping, and diagnostic tools, and help refine bio-solution claims across diverse contexts.

The project kick-off will take place on the 22th of April at the Versailles campus of the INRAE IDF - Versailles-Saclay Centre.

Coordination
> Massimiliano Corso, "Seed - Development, Regulation, and Metabolism" SEED-DREAM team
> Jean-Luc Cacas, "Germination Physiology" PHYGERM team

In connection with the research developed at the Institute Jean-Pierre Bourgin for Plant Sciences.