Plant roots call bacteria for help finding phosphorus
Wang Y, Gao C, Liu F, Liu Y, Zhou Z
Soil Health
The thin layer of soil hugging a plant's roots, right where your trowel disturbs it when you transplant, turns out to be a busy trading post where bacteria mine nutrients plants can't reach on their own.
When plants run low on phosphorus, a nutrient they need to grow, Arabidopsis plants release a chemical from their roots that acts like a help-wanted sign for certain bacteria. Those bacteria, called Acinetobacter, move in right onto the root surface, feed on nutrients the plant provides, and in return unlock phosphorus from the soil that the plant couldn't get on its own. It's a trade deal struck at the root's surface, and it even works when the plant is growing in real soil surrounded by a whole community of other microbes.
Key Findings
Malate secreted by phosphorus-starved Arabidopsis roots acts as a recruitment signal that draws Acinetobacter bacteria to the root surface (rhizoplane).
Acinetobacter use host-derived nutrients to mobilize phosphorus that is otherwise inaccessible to the plant, forming a mutualistic (not parasitic or purely exploitative) relationship.
The rhizoplane, but not the surrounding soil, functions as a hotspot for phosphorus acquisition, and the effect holds up in a complex bacterial community and in phosphorus-poor natural soil.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered that plants and certain soil bacteria team up to unlock phosphorus that plants normally can't access: the plant sends out a chemical distress signal, bacteria answer the call and set up shop on the root surface, and both sides end up better fed.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Mutually beneficial interactions between bacteria and Arabidopsis promote phosphorus nutrition and growth.
It remains unknown whether plants establish mutualistic relationships with any bacteria to cope with phosphorus (P) limitation. We characterized root-bacterial microbiome members to show that many ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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