PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “root exudates”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Influence of seed and root exudations on the rhizosphere effect in Sorghum vulgare and Crotalaria juncea.

The influence of seed and root exudations on the rhizosphere effect of Sorghum vulgare and Crotalaria juncea was examined. While the quantitative occurrence of certain morphological and physiological groups of bacteria on the seeds and rhizospheres of the two plant species differed, there were similarities in the occurrence of certain physiological and nutritional groups of bacteria on the seed as well as on the rhizosphere. The occurrence of some genera of fungi on the seeds and in the rhizosphere indicated the influence of both seeds and root exudations on the rhizosphere effect. Increase in root exudations of amino acids and sugars correlated with a concomitant increase in microbial activity in the rhizosphere on the 15th day of growth in both plant species but there was a delayed effect of the exuded chemicals on the rhizosphere microflora after 30 d of plant growth.

Amino Acids

Rhizosphere Dialogue: Microorganisms Mediated by Root Exudates Alleviate Drought Stress in Grasses.

Drought stress threatens the ecological functions and economic value of grasses, posing a major challenge to their sustainable production. Plants co-evolve with rhizosphere microbial communities, sometimes described as the plant's second genome, that can contribute to drought adaptation. Drought alters root architecture, hormonal and redox regulation and belowground carbon allocation, thereby modifying the quantity and composition of root exudation and reshaping the rhizosphere environment. This review uses the rhizosphere dialogue as an integrative framework to link these plant responses with microbial recruitment and subsequent feedback to the host. We summarise three linked stages of this dialogue: drought-induced changes in root exudation; microbial recruitment and colonisation through chemotaxis, attachment, biofilm formation, and root colonisation; and microbiome-mediated feedback that improves plant water relations, hormonal and redox homoeostasis, nutrient acquisition, and root function. We highlight microbial extracellular polymeric substances, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, and microbial volatile organic compounds as key mediators of drought alleviation. We then discuss how this framework may inform rational synthetic microbial community (SynCom) design, microbiome-informed breeding, artificial intelligence and machine-learning assisted strain prioritisation, rhizosphere legacy effects, and real-time monitoring. Future work should distinguish active exudate-mediated recruitment from drought-driven environmental filtering and integrate multi-omics, plant genetics, functional validation, and multi-location field trials to determine whether rhizosphere dialogue can become a predictive framework for climate-resilient grass production.

drought stress

Influence of light on pectic enzymes in root exudates of Trifolium alexandrinum inoculated with Rhizobium trifolii.

An in vitro experiment was conduced under bacteriologically controlled conditions to examine the effect of light on the production of pectin methyl esterase (PME) and pectin polygalacturonase (PG) in the root exudates of Trifolium alexandrinum inoculated with an efficient strain of Rhizobium trifolii. The results revealed that PME and PG increased with an increase in the duration of light to which plants were exposed. However, both the enzymes were detected in the root exudates of nonphotosynthesizing plants.

Esterases

A simple method for visualization of phenolics exudation by roots of intact lupin plants; the effect of nitrate and pH.

Phenolics exudation by imbibed seeds and roots of intact lupin plants (Lupinus albus L.) was studied during the first 4 days of growth by a new agar test with specific reagents for phenolics (Gibbs reagent, Naturstoffreagenz A). Comparative studies of the phenolics exudation reveal that legumes exude different phenolics (even if not qualitatively, then at least quantitatively) than oat. The exudation of phenolics starts very quickly after the imbibition of seeds and can be visualized as early as 24 h after sowing. In older seedlings, the exudation of phenolics can be detected along root zones and is influenced by nitrate and pH. At acidic pH, nitrate reduces phenolics exudation, but at pH 7.5 the exudation of phenolics becomes restricted to only some root zones. Nitrate must be present in the rooting media for at least 24 h to cause visible changes in the pattern of exudation at different pH values.

Agar

Fusarium wilt of Prunus armeniaca seedlings.

Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. was found to be the causal pathogen of Fusarium wilt of Prunus armeniaca seedlings. The fungus pathogenicity could be correlated with the increase in its mycelial growth and conidial germination under the influence of the host root exudates, volatile and gaseous exudates of either germinating seeds or roots, and the content of the host seedlings. Chromatographic and biological detection for indol derivatives in host root exudates indicated the presence of beta-indolacetic acid and indol-3-carbonic acid. Benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde, ethanol, ethylene, in addition to carbon dioxide, were among the volatile and gaseous exudates of either germinating seeds or roots of the host.

Carbonic Acid

Accelerated mineralization of two organophosphate insecticides in the rhizosphere.

Numerous xenobiotic compounds, including the organophosphate insecticides O, O-diethyl-O-(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl) phosphorothioate (diazinon) and O, O-diethyl-O-p-nitrophenyl phosphorothioate (parathion), appear to be degraded in the soil environment by an initial cometabolic attack. Comparing the mineralization rates of radiolabeled diazinon and parathion in root-free and in rhizosphere soil, we tested our hypothesis that, because of the presence of root exudates, the rhizosphere is an especially favorable environment for such co-metabolic transformations. The insecticides were added individually at 5 mug/g to sealed flasks containing either soil permeated by the root system of a bush bean plant or identical soil without roots. Periodically, the flask atmospheres were flushed through traps and the evolved (14)CO(2) was quantitated. Bush bean plant roots without associated rhizosphere microorganisms failed to produce a significant amount of (14)CO(2). During 1 month of incubation, rhizosphere flasks mineralized 12.9 and 17.9% of the added diazinon and parathion radiocarbon, respectively, compared to 5.0 and 7.8% by the soil without roots. The mineralization of parathion but not of diazinon was stimulated in a similar manner when soil without roots was repeatedly irrigated with a root exudate produced in aseptic solution culture. Viable counts of microorganisms on soil extract agar were not significantly altered by root permeation or by root exudate treatment of the soil, leaving population selection and/or enhanced cometabolic activity as the most plausible interpretations for the observed stimulatory effects. Rhizosphere interactions may substantially shorten the predicted half-lives of some xenobiotic compounds in soil.

Bacteria

The Rhizosphere Microbiome: A Key Mediator of Crop Responses to Fertilization Strategies.

The rhizosphere microbiome, the plant's "second genome" is pivotal for crop nutrient acquisition, health, and stress responses. While fertilization ensures high agricultural yields, a key challenge is reshaping this microbiome to boost crop performance. This review synthesizes how mineral, organic, and bio-organic/microbial inoculant fertilizers affect rhizosphere microbial structure, diversity, and function. Long-term excessive mineral fertilizers (especially nitrogen) reduce microbial diversity, diminish beneficial groups (e.g., diazotrophs, PGPR), and disrupt microbial networks via soil acidification and altered root exudates, causing continuous cropping obstacles. In contrast, organic fertilizers improve soil microenvironments, maintaining high microbial diversity, enriching beneficial taxa (e.g., Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria), and enhancing community complexity. Bio-organic fertilizers/microbial inoculants "engineer" the microbiome by introducing exogenous beneficial microbes (e.g., Bacillus, Pseudomonas, AMF), directly promoting growth, suppressing diseases, and "reconditioning" indigenous beneficial communities. We also clarify how fertilization regulates plant-microbe dialog via root exudates and rhizosphere chemistry (e.g., pH, ion balance), discuss current challenges (causality, lab-to-field translation, genotype-microbiome-fertilization interactions), and outline future directions. Integrating rhizosphere microbiome management into fertilization is crucial for reducing chemical fertilizer reliance and advancing agricultural green transformation.

fertilization strategies microbial community assem

Effect of volatile substances released from Origanum majorana and Ocimum basilicum on the rhizosphere and phyllosphere fungi of Phaseolus vulgaris.

Differences were found in the counts and occurrence of fungi in the phyllosphere and thizosphere of two representatives of the Lamiacea family, Origanum majorana and Ocimum basilicum, and in the phyllosphere and rhizosphere of Phaseolus vulgaris growing separately or in coenosis with O. majorana or O. basilicum. Both the volatile substances released from ground leaves of the two latter plant species and the root exudates affected considerably spore germination of isolated phylospheric and rhizospheric fungi. The results indicated a possible role of root exudates and volatile substances released from leaves in colonization of rhizosphere and/or phyllosphere by fungi, especially in associations of various plants.

Air Microbiology

Sphingobium yanoikuyae 41R9 Enhances Nitrogen Uptake by Modulating Transporter Genes and Root Development in Rapeseed.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely recognized for enhancing the absorption of mineral nutrients by crops. While Sphingobium species have been reported as PGPRs, their capacity to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and the underlying regulatory mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Here, a strain 41R9, isolated from the rhizosphere of N-deficient rapeseed, was found to significantly enhance the growth performance of rapeseed under both low and normal N conditions. Genomic analysis revealed that strain 41R9 was closely related to Sphingobium yanoikuyae. 15N isotope tracer experiments confirmed that inoculation with strain 41R9 significantly boosted N uptake and translocation in rapeseed roots. Transcriptome profiling demonstrated that strain 41R9 directly upregulated N transporter genes (NRT2.5 and SLAH1/3), facilitating efficient N acquisition. Furthermore, strain 41R9 maintained jasmonic acid (JA) homoeostasis via JAZ-mediated negative feedback, balancing defense responses and root development, thereby improving the plant's N acquisition capacity in the roots. Metabolomic and in vitro assays further demonstrated that strain 41R9 displayed strong chemotaxis towards kaempferol, a N-deficiency-induced root exudate, suggesting kaempferol might as a chemical effector for S. yanoikuyae recruitment. These findings advance our understanding of PGPR-driven mechanisms in enhancing crop NUE and highlight the potential of harnessing PGPRs for sustainable agriculture.

Plant Roots

Microbial partnerships and molecular mechanisms in plant stress physiology for climate-resilient and sustainable farming.

Plant-microbial partnerships and their underlying molecular mechanisms are indispensable, natural drivers of improved nutrient acquisition and stress tolerance in the face of climate-driven environmental challenges. Modern multi-omics tools, when coupled with artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, enable the precise design of targeted bioinoculants and synthetic microbial consortia. Translating these advanced microbiome-based strategies into scalable, field-level agricultural applications provides a sustainable path toward securing global food production while maintaining soil health. Global climate change imposes multifaceted abiotic and biotic stresses on crops, disrupting physiological and molecular processes and threatening agricultural productivity. Plant-associated microbes represent an underexplored yet powerful ally in enhancing crop resilience. This review presents current knowledge of plant-microbe interactions and the molecular mechanisms governing plant stress physiology, with an emphasis on climate-resilient and sustainable farming. Hence, ever-changing environmental cues pose a significant burden on agricultural productivity, and plant-associated microbial communities modulate a cascade of physiological and molecular responses, including production of phytohormones, signaling, regulation of reactive oxygen species homeostasis, and activation of plant immune responses to help plants withstand stress and enhance productivity. Moreover, root exudates, phytohormones, and quorum sensing mediate the central communication networks, facilitating plant-microbe cross talk. Additionally, the advances in OMICs approaches aid in disentangling the molecular underpinnings of these interactions by providing mechanistic insights and potential candidate gene targets for crop improvement and stress resilience. In the post-genomic era, integrating artificial intelligence and big data analysis to optimize microbiome-based strategies for sustainable agriculture is a new frontier for disentangling plant-microbe symbiosis to improve soil health, enhance crop yields, and improve stress tolerance. Thus, by integrating the ecological, physiological, and molecular perspectives, this review highlights the transformative potential of harnessing plant-microbe symbiosis for climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture.

Stress, Physiological

Strigolactones constrain rice drought acclimation by suppressing ROS scavenging through the D53-OsWRKY31-ZFP36 module.

Strigolactones (SLs) are a class of plant hormones essential for tiller development and yield under diverse environmental conditions. Drought is a major limiting factor for rice yields. Although SLs contribute to drought resistance, mechanisms and practical applications of SL pathway in drought acclimation of rice remain poorly understood. Our study shows that short-term dehydration represses SL biosynthesis in rice roots. Genetic assays indicate that disruption of SL biosynthesis or signaling elevates rice drought resistance, whereas SL signaling activation or supplementation with the SL analog GR244DO impairs drought resistance. SLs negatively regulate drought acclimation by promoting degradation of the repressor protein DWARF53 (D53). D53 interacts with the transcription factor OsWRKY31 via its N-terminal domain and suppresses the protein level of OsWRKY31, which binds to and represses transcription of the ZFP36 promoter. ZFP36 encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor that promotes H2O2 scavenging to sustain reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis during drought stress. Notably, the drought-resistant upland rice variety IRAT109 exhibits lower SL levels in root exudates than the lowland rice variety Nipponbare (NP). Genome editing of key components in SL pathway enhances drought resistance in NP, Huazhan (HZ), and IRAT109. The agronomic potential of tuning SL biosynthesis is further supported by the elite D17/HTD1 allele, which weakens SL biosynthesis and improves drought resistance and grain yield in Nekken 2 (NK2) under field conditions. These findings uncover a key mechanism underlying SL-repressed drought acclimation in rice and provide an effective strategy to improve drought resistance in diverse rice varieties amid ongoing climate change.

D53

Azotobacter vinelandii gene fitness following carbon shift from sucrose to acetate, succinate and glycerol.

Nitrogen-fixing microbes are a primary contributor of this important nutrient to the global nitrogen cycle. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through the enzyme nitrogenase requires extensive energy that in whole cells is generally studied during the oxidation of carbohydrates such as sugars. The nitrogen-fixing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii is a model diazotroph for the study of aerobic BNF. Much is known about metabolism in A. vinelandii when cultured on a simple medium where energy is provided primarily in the form of sucrose or glucose. Outside of the laboratory, this soil bacterium grows on metabolites primarily derived from plant root exudates or from the degradation of dead plant matter. In this work, we expand on previous studies looking at genes that are essential to BNF in A. vinelandii when grown on sucrose medium using transposon sequencing (Tn-seq). We applied Tn-seq to determine the genes essential to growth when the medium was shifted to acetate, succinate or glycerol as the primary carbon and energy source to fuel both growth and BNF. A global overview of the genes of central metabolism and those directing substrates toward central metabolism, along with a selection of unexpected genes that were essential for specific growth substrates, is provided.

Azotobacter vinelandii

Fast-growing Bacillus sensu lato rhizosphere populations are constrained by antagonistic Pseudomonadota, Actinomycetota and other Bacillus sensu lato.

Copiotrophic Bacillus and related taxa grow rapidly and are commonly isolated from soil. Despite their growth rate, Bacillus sensu lato (BSL) constitute less than one percent of soil bacterial communities, and the nutrient-enriched rhizosphere contains even fewer. Amendment of bulk soil with synthetic root exudate did not lead to increase in Bacillus culturable counts. We hypothesized that BSL populations in soil enriched with growth-supporting carbon are suppressed by various soil microbes. A screen using B. pseudomycoides as tester strain yielded 124 growth inhibiting isolates, aligning by 16S rRNA genes to 3 Alphaproteobacteria, 6 Betaproteobacteria, 5 Gammaproteobacteria, 3 Streptomyces, and 19 Bacillaceae. Most antagonists also suppressed four other BSL, and over 70% of the BSL isolates suppressed each other. The 11 sequenced BSL genomes encoded between 2 and 10 antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters. Incubation of multiple isolates in artificial soil microcosms resulted in population growth restraint through a high percentage of endospores formed. This indicated that growth suppression by antagonists was due primarily to induction of sporulation. These results support our hypothesis that Bacillus populations in soil enriched with growth-supporting carbon are suppressed by various soil microbes.

Bacillus