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However, how\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                      endophytes influence plant-associated bacterial communities in cool-season grasses, particularly in ecologically important yet understudied species, such as\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Achnatherum inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                      , remains unclear. Using phylogenetic molecular ecological network analysis, we determined that seed-borne (seed epiphytic) and phyllosphere bacterial communities of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                      -infected (EI)\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">A. inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                      exhibited reduced network complexity compared to\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                      -free (EF) plants. Across all samples, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes dominated the keystone taxa, with\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      (OTU744 and OTU8264) consistently identified as a hub genus in both seed-borne and phyllosphere networks. Culture-based analysis revealed that endophyte-infected plants had a significantly (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.05) higher relative abundance of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Bacillus<\/jats:italic>\n                      than EF\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">A. inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                      , especially\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      comprised 13, 35, and 33% of isolates from the seed, leaf, and rhizosphere of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">A. inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                      , respectively. To capture potential functional diversity, we selected two phylogenetically distant\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains from each of the three ecological niches for further analysis. Inoculation of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">A. inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                      seedlings with these strains consistently promoted plant growth, enhanced forage quality (total nitrogen content), and improved nutritional value (ether extract). Whole-genome sequencing combined core-genome phylogenetic tree of the six\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains and confirmed that five strains belong to\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P. atacamensis<\/jats:italic>\n                      , whereas Pse19 was\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P. cucumis<\/jats:italic>\n                      . Our findings reveal that\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                      endophytes modulate bacterial network stability and enrich plant-associated\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      , which synergistically enhance host performance. Collectively, this study provides a mechanistic framework for manipulating keystone taxa and beneficial isolates to improve grass productivity in grassland agricultural ecosystems.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:sec>\n                      <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                      <jats:p>\n                        Although the tripartite interplay between plants, bacteria, and fungal endophytes, such as\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                        , is recognized as vital for host fitness, the specific mechanisms through which these endophytes shape associated bacterial communities, particularly in ecologically significant grasses, such as\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Achnatherum inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                        , remain poorly understood. This study provides crucial mechanistic insights by revealing that\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                        endophytes reconfigure the structure and stability of both seed-borne and phyllosphere bacterial networks in\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">A. inebrians<\/jats:italic>\n                        , leading to reduced complexity but enrichment of specific keystone taxa. We identify\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                        as a consistently dominant hub genus across these niches. Notably, functional validation shows that diverse\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                        isolates, representative of those enriched by the endophyte, significantly enhance host plant growth, forage quality, and nutritional value. Our findings reveal a synergistic mechanism where\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Epichlo\u00eb<\/jats:italic>\n                        endophytes modulate bacterial network stability to favor beneficial\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                        populations, collectively boosting host performance.\n                      <\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:sec>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/msystems.00563-26","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T16:38:55Z","timestamp":1788367135000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Unlocking the power of\n                    <i>Pseudomonas<\/i>\n                    : network-guided isolation enhances plant growth on\n                    <i>Achnatherum inebrians<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2739-5340","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jinjin","family":"Liang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/036xfaa94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunjie","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/036xfaa94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5131-7919","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xingxu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/036xfaa94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhibiao","family":"Nan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/036xfaa94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 4th International Neotyphodium\/Grass Interactions Symposium","author":"Nan ZB","year":"2000","unstructured":"Nan ZB, Li CJ. 2000. 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