460 / 2019-02-26 19:08:13

The root microbiota coordinates trade-offs between shade and immune responses in Arabidopsis

microbiota,shade response,immune response

全体主题 > Plant Microbe Interactions & Microbiomes

Light is one of the fundamental environmental factors underlying plant growth and development, and can also influence plant immune responses. Besides the impact of abiotic factors, plant growth in nature is also regulated by diverse microbial assemblages collectively called the plant microbiota. The microbiota is thought to help plants overcome specific environmental constraints. However, the role of the root microbiota in plant growth and plant immune responses under shade remains unclear. We used synthetic microbial culture collections and gnotobiotic systems to reconstitute the root microbiota under strictly controlled laboratory conditions. Together with amplicon-based high-throughput microbial profiling, these experiments indicated that the root microbiota augments host shade tolerance and revealed shade-dependent microbial community shifts in Arabidopsis roots. Moreover, RNAseq data identified microbiota-dependent shade-responsive genes in both roots and shoots, indicating a functional link between the microbiota and shade responses in Arabidopsis. Notably, immune responses in roots and systemic defense responses in shoots are induced in the presence of the root microbiota under normal light conditions but are largely shut down under shade, implying that the induction of plant defense by the root microbiota is light-dependent. These findings may facilitate efforts to define and deploy useful microbes that enhance plant performance under suboptimal light conditions.