Original title: Root exudate metabolites drive plant-soil feedbacks on growth and defense by shaping the rhizosphere microbiota
Wheat and maize roots release benzoxazinoidsA group of defensive chemicals released by roots of cereals such as wheat and maize., chemicals that help defend plants. In soil, one breakdown product, MBOAA breakdown product of benzoxazinoids that builds up in soil during the study's soil-conditioning phase., changes the mix of fungi and bacteria around roots. Those altered microbes are linked to slower growth but stronger defenses in the next plant generation. That generation also activates jasmonate signalingA chemical signaling process in plants that helps activate defenses., a plant defense response, and its defenses suppress herbivores.
Imagine cooking a meal and leaving the kitchen for someone else to use. The ingredients you leave behind can change what is available and how the next person cooks. In this paper, root-released chemicals change the soil's mix of tiny living things, and those changed surroundings affect the next generation of plants.
A plant can leave behind soil conditions that affect what grows there next. This work links a chemical released by cereal roots to changes in soil microbes, plant growth, defense, and how well herbivores perform on the next generation.
The abstract does not specify which particular fungi or bacteria cause the plant changes, how broadly the results apply beyond the tested context, or how long the effects last. It establishes the role of MBOA and root-associated microbiota in the observed outcomes, but does not provide details about the experimental setting or effect sizes.
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Root exudate metabolites drive plant-soil feedbacks on growth and defense by shaping the rhizosphere microbiota — Lingfei Hu, Christelle A. M. Robert, Selma Cadot et al. — Nature Communications — doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05122-7
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.