Introduction to Belowground Defence Strategies in Plants
Plant roots have long been literally and figuratively hidden from sight, despite their unmistakable importance in a plant’s life. Interactions between plant roots and soil microbes indeed seem to take place in a black box, but science is starting to shed
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Abstract Plant roots have long been literally and figuratively hidden from sight, despite their unmistakable importance in a plant’s life. Interactions between plant roots and soil microbes indeed seem to take place in a black box, but science is starting to shed some light into this box. This book aims to bring together our current knowledge on the belowground interactions of plant roots with both detrimental and beneficial microbes. This knowledge can form the basis for more environmentally friendly plant disease management of soil-borne pathogens and pests, and the book will be of interest to both plant scientists and students eager to discover the hidden part of a plant’s daily life and survival.
Plants are multicellular photosynthetic organisms that have evolved from unicellular fresh water green algae. During their evolution, plants have acquired diverse capabilities that enabled them not only to survive but also to adapt and successfully colonize diverse land environments. In particular, the acquisition of roots or rootlike structures that facilitate extracting water from soil rather than relying on limited amounts of moisture available on the soil surface has no doubt played an important role in plant’s adaptation to life on land. Obviously, roots are also essential for physical attachment of plants to the soil, as well as for nutrient uptake and interaction with soil biota. Plant roots continuously
C.M.F. Vos (*) Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Department of Plant Systems Biology, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Technologie park 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Agriculture, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4067, Australia Scientia Terrae Research Institute, Fortsesteenweg 30A, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] K. Kazan CSIRO Agriculture St Lucia, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture & Food Innovation (QAAFI), Queensland Bioscience Precinct, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 C.M.F. Vos, K. Kazan (eds.), Belowground Defence Strategies in Plants, Signaling and Communication in Plants, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42319-7_1
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C.M.F. Vos and K. Kazan
explore the soil to sense and transmit diverse belowground signals needed to modify plant architecture. The interaction between plant roots and beneficial microbes (e.g., rhizobia or arbuscular mycorrhiza) can be highly advantageous for both parties and greatly contributes to agriculture. However, the belowground environment can be very hostile as well and plant roots are often threatened by various biotic and abiotic stress factors (e.g., lack of water, oxygen, nutrients; soil acidity, salinity, low temperatures, as well as pathogenic microbes). While the interaction between roots and nonpathogenic microbes can be beneficial, many pathogenic microbes and nematodes can
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