Plants and humans use surprisingly similar chemical chats with bacteria
Diab E, Thome NU, Elsayed SS, Raaijmakers JM, van Wezel GP
Plant Signaling
The bacteria living on your tomato leaves and in your garden soil respond to plant chemical signals in ways strikingly similar to how gut bacteria respond to signals in the human body, which means breakthroughs in medicine could point the way to healthier, more disease-resistant plants.
Every living thing, plants included, hosts a community of bacteria that can help or harm it, and it turns out hosts talk to these bacteria with chemical signals that shape how the microbes behave. This review compares those chemical conversations in humans and plants and finds surprisingly similar communication patterns even though the bacteria involved are completely different species. Understanding these shared 'rules of conversation' could help scientists design better ways to encourage helpful microbes and discourage harmful ones in gardens, farms, and forests.
Key Findings
Human and plant hosts both use chemical cues to regulate gene expression, virulence, and specialized metabolite production in their associated bacteria
Despite vastly different bacterial taxonomies between humans and plants, the review identifies common feedback loop mechanisms in host-bacteria chemical signaling
The comparison suggests bidirectional cueing (host to bacteria and bacteria to host) follows conserved functional principles across kingdoms
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants and even human bodies 'talk' to their bacteria using chemical signals, and this review finds that the same basic chatting strategies show up in both worlds, meaning what scientists learn about gut bacteria could help crops fight disease too.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Chemical dialogues at the crossroads of host-bacteria interactions.
Microbiomes are now recognised as the second genome of eukaryotes, providing diverse life-support functions for their hosts. The impact of microbiome members on the growth and health of their hosts...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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