Abstract
Mutualistic microbes present in plant-associate microbial communities provide a variety of benefits for their host, including reciprocal exchange of nutrients and/or protection from biotic and abiotic environmental stresses. Plant microbiomes have remarkably robust composition in comparison to the complex and dynamic microbial environments from which they form, suggesting finely tuned discrimination by the plant host. Here the intersection between the plant immune system and microbiomes will be explored, both as a possible means of shaping community membership and as a consequence elicited by certain colonizing microbes. Notably, the advent of massive parallel sequencing technologies allows the investigation of these beneficial microbial functions within whole community settings, so we can now ask how engagement of the immune response influences subsequent microbial interactions. Thus, we are currently poised for future work defining how the plant immune system impacts microbiomes and consequently host health, allowing us to better understand the potential of plant productivity optimization within complex microbial surroundings.
Highlights
Mutualistic microbes present in plant-associate microbial communities provide a variety of benefits for their host, including reciprocal exchange of nutrients and/or protection from biotic and abiotic environmental stresses
DETERMINING THE COMPOSITION OF PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES Plants have evolved in a microbial world, and, as with many other multicellular organisms, they assemble a specific subset of microorganisms into plant-associated microbial communities both in their aboveground organs and belowground, inside of the root tissue and in the soil immediately adjacent to and under the influence of the root system
Even though these approaches give an incomplete view of microbiomes and lack the sensitivity to detect shifts in community composition, isolated microbes provide the raw material for genome sequences and determination of plant phenotypes following colonization, enabling scientists to address more complicated questions about plant microbiomes (Figure 1B)
Summary
Mutualistic microbes present in plant-associate microbial communities provide a variety of benefits for their host, including reciprocal exchange of nutrients and/or protection from biotic and abiotic environmental stresses. While the mechanisms of immune engagement and suppression during interactions between specific pathogenic and beneficial microbes with their plant host are well-defined, much less is understood about the interactions between the plant and its microbiome as a whole entity.
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