397: Plant Promotes Pathogen-Prohibiting Partner

This episode: Plants stimulate their root bacteria to compete
better, and these bacteria help the plants resist disease!


Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bacillus circulans

Takeaways
In some ways, plants' roots are like our gut. They both absorb
nutrients, and they both have complex communities of microbes
living alongside the host cells. These microbes can assist their
hosts in various ways, and get fed in return.

In this study, one species of root bacterium is able to compete
against others by producing an antimicrobial compound. The plant
stimulates this production with chemical signals, and benefits
from its symbionts' increased competitiveness because the
bacterium helps the plant resist infection.

Journal Paper:
Ogran A, Yardeni EH, Keren-Paz A, Bucher T, Jain R, Gilhar O,
Kolodkin-Gal I. 2019. The Plant Host Induces Antibiotic
Production To Select the Most-Beneficial Colonizers. Appl Environ
Microbiol 85:e00512-19.


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