HOST VARIATION FOR INTERACTIONS WITH BENEFICIAL PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROBES

Abstract

Beneficial plant-associated microbes can profoundly influence plant health by suppressing disease, enhancing nutrient uptake, fixing atmospheric nitrogen, and promoting plant growth. Host variation, among cultivars or plant genotypes, for response to beneficial microorganisms suggests that plant genes play a role in supporting these interactions. Such host variation can be found among diverse groups of microorganisms including rhizobia, mycorrhizal fungi, and microbial biocontrol agents. Discrete variation among plant genotypes for interaction with beneficial microbes has led to the discovery of single genes that specify compatible interactions. Continuous variation for interaction phenotypes such as disease suppression, plant growth, or nutrient uptake have led to hypotheses, and in some cases genetic descriptions, of multigenic control of these interactions. Future research into the role of plant genes involved in hosting beneficial plant-associated microbes will provide greater insight into this relatively unexplored area of biology and should provide new tools to improve plant health in agriculture.

Multi-component symbiosis of Legumes with beneficial soil microbes: genetic and evolutionary basis of application in sustainable crop production

“…Специфичность взаимодействия растений с PGPB невысока, однако показано, что его эффективность зависит как от генотипа бактерии, так и от генотипа растения-хозяина (Smith, Goodman, 1999;Belimov et al, 2000;Preston, 2004). Несмотря на отсутствие видимой анатомической дифференциации партне-ров в ассоциациях растений с PGPB, в их развитие во-влечен ряд молекулярных механизмов (Preston, 2004; Игнатов, 2005;Sanchez et al, 2005), характер-ных для развития АМ и БРС.…”

Ecological Genomics and Epidemiology

“…These allow host resistance to be assessed as an outcome of gene expression. In addition, the expression of plant genes in response to non-pathogenic microorganisms may be highly relevant to epidemiology, as it may provide an understanding of how plants select for rhizosphere flora that are antagonistic to pathogens, for example (Smith and Goodman, 1999). Microarray analyses can be used to identify sets of coregulated genes and their common regulatory elements (e.g., Maleck et al, 2000;Chen et al, 2002), which may both reveal different response pathways and allow selection of smaller sets of indicator genes to represent particular stress response pathways.…”

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions That Cut the Mustard

“…Such investigations may elucidate why certain plants develop only mild symptoms (tolerance), whereas other plants suffer severe or even lethal symptoms. These are very important aspects that should not be underestimated because in fact systemic infections create most of the disease problems (Agrios, 1997), and they are necessary to achieve the beneficial effects of symbiotic interactions (Smith and Goodman, 1999 Due to the inherently complex nature of plantmicrobe interactions, studies must be pursued on taxonomically diverse species of plants. For example, considering that the host range of a microbe is genetically controlled, useful information can be obtained by simultaneous molecular analyses on several different plants instead of centralized efforts on a single model system.…”

“…There are a number of fungi that can establish a symbiotic interaction that is mutually beneficial to pathogen and host (Smith and Goodman, 1999). In simplistic terms, many sym-biotic interactions create a niche where the microbe provides the plant with extra nutrients or growth stimulators, or suppresses disease, and in turn, the plant provides a suitable habitat and photosynthates for the microbe.…”