Microbial communities associated with plants: learning from nature to apply it in agriculture

Author(s)

Andreote, Fernando Dini ^[1] ; Pereira e Silva, Michele de Cassia ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Coll Agr Luiz de Queiroz, Dept Soil Sci, Soil Microbiol Lab, Ave Padua Dias 11, BR-13418260 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Review article
• Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology; v. 37, p. 29-34, JUN 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 26

Abstract

It is a new consensus that any living organism depends on its partners to strive under environmental conditions along their living period. Plants are alsb highly dependent on their associated microbes, which can support its development and proper protection under stressors. Along their evolution, plants learned to interact to soil microbiota, extracting their utmost capacity to provide resources for plant development and successful colonization of terrestrial systems, where the great soil biodiversity is keen on properly exert this role. Functional systems, such as the rhizosphere, provide evidences of the powerful selection exerted by plants upon the living soil microbes. In counterpart, the anthropogenic activity, mainly in forms of agricultural managements, has neglected this symbiosis, interfering in soil biodiversity, and consequently, reducing plant development through the interference in their association with beneficial microbes. This mini review has collected information to build a suitable hypothesis that if we better learn about the connection between plants and its associated microbiota in nature, we can lead agriculture to a better exploration of this omnipresent source of nutrients and protection, increasing yield and sustainability. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/50320-4 - Dimensions US-BIOTA - São Paulo: collaborative research: integrating dimensions of microbial biodiversity across land use change in tropical forests
• Grantee: Tsai Siu Mui
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/50353-7 - Microbial consortia for biowaste management: life cycle analysis of novel strategies of bioconversion (MICROWASTE)
• Grantee: Fernando Dini Andreote
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/50228-8 - Biodiversity components, and their metabolic characters, of Brazilian Islands: an integrated approach
• Grantee: Roberto Gomes de Souza Berlinck
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants