# UJ scientists contribute to global AI tool that identifies crop-strengthening microbes faster

> University of Johannesburg scientists are contributing to microbeMASST, a global AI tool that matches bacteria to the chemicals they produce, cutting the time needed to develop crop-protection products.

- Type: AI news
- Page: https://completeaitraining.com/news/uj-scientists-contribute-to-global-ai-tool-that-identifies/
- Published: 2026-04-30
- Updated: 2026-05-02
- Author: Jeroen Erne
- Jobs: Science and research
- Reading time: 2 min

### University of Johannesburg joins global AI project to speed up crop resilience research

Scientists at the University of Johannesburg are contributing to a global research collaboration that uses artificial intelligence to identify beneficial bacteria for staple crops faster than traditional methods allow.

The project, called microbeMASST, searches a database of metabolomic data from more than 60,000 microbial cultures to match microbes with the metabolites they produce. Researchers use this information to develop microbial products that help crops withstand heat, drought, and flooding - challenges that intensify as climate conditions shift.

The UJ Research Centre for Plant Metabolomics is one of 25 research teams contributing data to the tool. The Centre has published research on bacterial metabolites that improve resilience in tomatoes, sorghum, maize, and barley.

#### Why speed matters for farmers

In laboratory and greenhouse tests, researchers often identify a mixture of microbes that appear beneficial. But moving from a "soup" of microbes to a reliable, packaged product requires knowing exactly what chemistry each microbe produces and how it affects crops.

Dr Fidele Tugizimana, incoming Co-Director of the UJ Research Centre for Plant Metabolomics, said farmers need certainty. "You need to know what type of chemistry those microbes in the formulation produce," he said. "I should be able to tell you that the formulation will help your specific crop resist a harsh environment, to produce a higher yield, and why that product would have that effect."

MicrobeMASST accelerates this process by allowing researchers to search across curated data from teams worldwide, rather than testing possibilities one by one.

#### The scale of climate pressure

Crops that produced reliable yields under historical climate conditions face lower yields as temperatures rise. Prof Ian Dubery, outgoing Director of the UJ Research Centre for Plant Metabolomics, said disease resistance traits are breaking down when combined with heat and drought stress.

"The combination of stresses - heat, drought, pathogens - is certain to have detrimental effects on agricultural production, not only in South Africa but globally," Dubery said. "We need to look at alternative approaches to agricultural practices."

MicrobeMASST, led by Prof Pieter C. Dorrestein at the University of California San Diego, was introduced in a recent Nature Microbiology article. The tool is part of a broader ecosystem of computational resources called GNPS.

The database can also be applied to analyzing the human gut microbiome and other research areas beyond agriculture.

Dubery said the tool can help speed up development of new microbial combinations to apply to seeds, soil, or plants to improve yield or resilience in crops facing climate pressure.

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