BacterioFiles 397 - Plant Promotes Pathogen-Prohibiting Partner

Bacillus subtilis

By Y tambe, CCBY-SA 3.0

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.

Other interesting stories:

• Plant virus influences aphid viral infection, which possibly increases spread of both
• Producing bioplastics from low-cost carbon sources (paper)

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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