TOPIC: Root-Microbe Interaction

DR TARIQ AHMAD DAR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR BOTANY
SP COLLEGE CLUSTER UNIVERSITY SRINAGAR
 Root-Microbe Interaction
The influence of living roots extends well beyond the immediate root surface into
a region of the soil defined as the rhizosphere.
A principal manifestation of this influence is the numerous associations that
develop between roots and soil microorganisms, especially bacteria and fungi.
Plant roots generally support large populations of bacteria, principally because of
the large supply of energy-rich nutrients provided by the growing root system.
The immediate environment of the roots is so favorable to bacterial growth that
the bacterial population in the rhizosphere may exceed that in the surrounding
bulk soil by as much as 50 percent.
Nutrients provided by the roots are comprised largely of amino acids, reducing
sugars, and other low-molecular-weight compounds. These compounds may
either leak from the cells (a non metabolic process) or be actively secreted into
the apoplastic space from where they readily diffuse into the surrounding
rhizosphere.
• Dominant among the root secretions are the mucilages:
polysaccharides secreted by Golgi vesicles in cells near the
growing tip.
• Secretion of mucilage appears to be restricted to cells such as
root cap cells, young epidermal cells, and root hairs where
secondary walls have yet to form.
• The mucilage is rapidly invaded by soil bacteria that contribute
their own metabolic products, including mucopolysaccharides of
the bacterial capsule. In addition, mucilage also attracts colloidal
mineral and organic matter from the soil. The resulting mixture
of root secretions, living and dead bacteria, and colloidal soil
particles is commonly referred to as mucigel.
• bacteria are intimately involved in the nitrogen nutrition of plants. Both
invasive and free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria, are the primary source of
nitrogen for plants. In addition, other soil bacteria convert ammonium nitrogen
to nitrate.
• There is some evidence that soil bacteria can assist in making phosphorous
available by solubilizing the water-insoluble forms.
• Bacteria enhance nutrient uptake by enhancing the growth and morphology of
roots. One of the more striking examples is the formation of proteoid roots.
This is a phenomenon of localized, intense lateral root production observed
originally in the Proteaceae, a family of tropical trees and shrubs.
• (The Proteaceae includes the genus Macadamea, the source of the popular
macadamia nut.) Proteoid roots have now been found in several other families.
The larger number of lateral roots allows a more intensive mining of the soils
for poorly mobile nutrients, such as phosphorous. The mechanism for proteoid
root induction has not been determined, but could be related to the
production of a plant hormone (indole acetic acid) by the bacteria.
 MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IN NUTRIENT UPTAKE
• Perhaps the most widespread—and the most significant—associations
between plants and microorganisms are those formed between roots of
higher plants and a wide variety of soil fungi.
• A root infected with a fungus is called a mycorrhiza (literally, fungus root).
• Mycorrhizae is a form of mutualist association in which both partners derive
benefit. The host plant provides associated fungus with carbohydrates and in
return receives nutrients or water from the mycorhiza. The significance of
mycorhizae is reflected in the observation that more than 80 percent of plants
studied, including virtually all plant species of economic importance, form
mycorrhizal associations.
• 83% dicots, 79% monocots and all gymnosperms regularly form mychorizal
associations.
• Two major forms of mycorrhizae are known: ectotrophic (ectomycorhiza) and
endotrophic (endomycorhiza)
 Ectomycorrhizae
• Ectotrophic mycorrhizal fungi typically show a thick sheath, or “mantle,” of
fungal mycelium around the roots, and some of the mycelium penetrates
between the cortical cells. The cortical cells themselves are not penetrated by
the fungal hyphae but instead are surrounded by a network of hyphae called
the Hartig net.
• Often the amount of fungal mycelium is so extensive that its total mass is
comparable to that of the roots themselves.
• The fungal mycelium also extends into the soil, away from this compact
mantle, where it forms individual hyphae or strands containing fruiting
bodies. The capacity of the root system to absorb nutrients is improved by the
presence of external fungal hyphae that are much finer than plant roots and
can reach beyond the areas of nutrient-depleted soil near the roots
• . Ectotrophic mycorrhizal fungi infect exclusively tree species, including
gymnosperms and woody angiosperms
Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (endomycorhiza)
• Do not produce a compact mantle of fungal mycelium around the root.
Instead, the hyphae grow in a less dense arrangement, both within the root
itself and extending outward from the root into the surrounding soil
• After entering the root through either the epidermis or a root hair, the hyphae
not only extend through the regions between cells but also penetrate
individual cells of the cortex. Within the cells, the hyphae can form oval
structures called vesicles and branched tree like structures called arbuscules
(meaning dwarf tree). The arbuscules appear to be sites of nutrient transfer
between the fungus and the host plant.
• Unlike the ectotrophic mycorrhizae, vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae make up
only a small mass of fungal material, which is unlikely to exceed 10% of the
root weight. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae are found in association with
the roots of most species of herbaceous angiosperms
• Mycorrhizae were originally discovered by German botanist A. B. Frank,
who concluded, on the basis of experiments conducted with beech
seedlings, that mycorrhizal inoculation stimulated seedling growth.
• Numerous studies with pine and other tree seedlings have demonstrated
30 to 150 percent increases in dry weight infected with mycorrhizae when
compared with non infected controls. Similar results have been obtained in
studies with agricultural plants such as maize.
• the dry weight of VAM-infected Lavendula plants increased 8.5 times over
non infected controls.
• In a classic experiment, Hatch demonstrated in 1937 that infected pine
seedlings absorbed two to three times more nitrogen, potassium, and
phosphorous
• The primary cause of mycorrhizal-enhanced growth appears to be
enhanced uptake of nutrients, especially phosphorous
• Phosphorus deficiency promotes the mychorhizal infection
 Nutrient depletion zone
The beneficial role of mycorrhizae, particularly with respect to the uptake of
phosphorous, appears to be related to the nutrient depletion zone that
surrounds the root. This zone defines the limits of the soil from which the root
is able to readily extract nutrient elements.
Additional nutrients can be made available only by extension of the root into
new regions of the soil or by diffusion of nutrients from the bulk soil into the
depletion zone.
The extent of the depletion zone varies from one nutrient element to another,
depending on the solubility and mobility of the element in the soil solution.
The depletion zone for nitrogen, for example, extends some distance from the
root because nitrate is readily soluble and highly mobile.
Phosphorous, on the other hand, is less soluble and relatively immobile in soils
and, consequently, the depletion zone for phosphorous is correspondingly
smaller. Mycorrhizal fungi assist in the uptake of phosphorous by extending
their mycelia beyond the phosphorous depletion zone