Symbiosis and stress: how plant microbiomes affect host evolution.

ABSTRACT: Existing paradigms for plant microevolution rarely acknowledge the potential impacts of diverse microbiomes on evolutionary processes. Many plant-associated microorganisms benefit the host via access to resources, protection from pathogens, or amelioration of abiotic stress. In doing so, they alter the plant's perception of the environment, potentially reducing the strength of selection acting on plant stress tolerance or defence traits or altering the traits that are the target of selection. We posit that the microbiome can affect plant microevolution via (1) manipulation of plant phenotypes in ways that increase plant fitness under stress and (2) direct microbial responses to the environment that benefit the plant. Both mechanisms might favour plant genotypes that attract or stimulate gr

SUBMITTER: Hawkes CV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7435158 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature