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It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants from Disease
ScienceDaily (May 7, 2011) ? Those vegetables you had for dinner may have once been protected by an immune system akin to the one that helps you fight disease. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Netherland's Wageningen University found that plants rely on a complex community of soil microbes to defend themselves against pathogens, much the way mammals harbor a raft of microbes to avoid infections.
. . .
"We now see that the complex phenomenon of disease suppression in soils cannot simply be attributed to a single bacterial group, but is most likely controlled by a community of organisms," says Andersen.
Their research will help scientists pursue unanswered questions about disease-suppressive soil: Do plants actively recruit beneficial soil microorganisms for protection against infection? And if so, how do they do it? It will also help scientists elucidate the mechanisms by which groups of soil microbes work together to reduce the incidence of plant disease.
The research was supported in part by the California Environmental Protection Agency's State Water Resources Control Board and the Rathmann Family Foundation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110505161001.htm
ScienceDaily (May 7, 2011) ? Those vegetables you had for dinner may have once been protected by an immune system akin to the one that helps you fight disease. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Netherland's Wageningen University found that plants rely on a complex community of soil microbes to defend themselves against pathogens, much the way mammals harbor a raft of microbes to avoid infections.
. . .
"We now see that the complex phenomenon of disease suppression in soils cannot simply be attributed to a single bacterial group, but is most likely controlled by a community of organisms," says Andersen.
Their research will help scientists pursue unanswered questions about disease-suppressive soil: Do plants actively recruit beneficial soil microorganisms for protection against infection? And if so, how do they do it? It will also help scientists elucidate the mechanisms by which groups of soil microbes work together to reduce the incidence of plant disease.
The research was supported in part by the California Environmental Protection Agency's State Water Resources Control Board and the Rathmann Family Foundation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110505161001.htm