Fine roots make the difference in metabolomes and microbiomes

Bacteria and fungi live together on the surface of plant roots, which can promote symbiotic interactions with the plant. Plant roots that are especially fine can support various niches for their microbial proliferations, ...

Calling on natural defenses to turn back banana pandemic

In the 1950s, the "Gros Michel" variety of banana was wiped out by Panama disease. The banana crop in some locations was basically eliminated by the disease of fusarium wilt, caused by a pathogen that enters the plant through ...

Underneath it all: Dishing the dirt on protists

Plants evolved in a world dominated by prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes. Underneath the surface, plant roots interact with microbes in the soil, also called the rhizosphere microbiome.

Rhizobium adapts lifestyles from rhizosphere to symbiosis

Rhizobia are soil-dwelling bacteria that form symbioses with legumes and provide biologically useable nitrogen as ammonium for the host plant. During symbiosis, rhizobia must adapt to several different lifestyles. These range ...

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