Abstract
A peculiar feature of all living beings is their capability to communicate. With the discovery of the quorum sensing phenomenon in bioluminescent bacteria in the late 1960s, it became clear that intraspecies and interspecies communications and social behaviors also occur in simple microorganisms such as bacteria. However, at that time, it was difficult to imagine how such small organisms—invisible to the naked eye—could influence the behavior and wellbeing of the larger, more complex and visible organisms they colonize. Now that we know this information, the challenge is to identify the myriad of bacterial chemical signals and communication networks that regulate the life of what can be defined, in a whole, as a meta-organism. In this review, we described the transkingdom crosstalk between bacteria, insects, and plants from an ecological perspective, providing some paradigmatic examples. Second, we reviewed what is known about the genetic and biochemical bases of the bacterial chemical communication with other organisms and how explore the semiochemical potential of a bacterium can be explored. Finally, we illustrated how bacterial semiochemicals managing the transkingdom communication may be exploited from a biotechnological point of view.
Highlights
The life of every living being takes place in a dynamic network of relationships with other organisms.Among the interspecific interactions, those occurring between micro- and macro-organisms have attracted increasing scientific interest and public attention, unveiling new and unexpected roles of bugs as beneficial modulators of many biological processes in plant and animal hosts, extending and enhancing their adaptive capabilities.It is understood that rhizosphere symbiotic microorganisms exert fundamental nutritional and protective effects on different species of plants, strongly contributing to their ecological success [1].Mycorrhizal fungi provide plants with water and mineral nutrients collected in the soil and counteract soilborne pathogens [2]
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) sequester and/or degrade toxic compounds, such as heavy metals or xenobiotic aromatic compounds. They limit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and/or protect the plants from their aggression using a variety of mechanisms, including iron limitation by siderophores, the production of antibiotics and extracellular enzymes that attack the microbial cell wall, and elicitation of the induced systemic resistance (ISR) [5]
As shown in experiments with A. thaliana, the VOCs profile emitted by plants infested by aphid Myzus persicae (Hemiptera, Aphididae) is less attractive for the parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) if the roots of the plant are colonized by root bacteria [94]
Summary
The life of every living being takes place in a dynamic network of relationships with other organisms. Elucidating the biological role, the biochemistry and regulation of the chemical signals produced by microorganisms is essential to better understanding the ecological significance of transkingdom interactions involving microorganisms, plants, and insects, but it is instrumental to the development of biotechnological devices. This tool is imperative for understanding the biological struggle for more sustainable agriculture and to deal with the effects of the climate changes on plant–insect ecosystems, which inevitably involve changes in microbial community dynamics with a far greater knowledge [18].
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