Illustration from Scientific Research

Conceptual model of interspecific plant communication mediating the structure of a rhizosphere disease-suppressive microbiome. In brief, tomato roots perceive signaling chemicals (i.e., taxifolin) produced by potatoonion (1); upon perception, tomato plants alter the chemistry of root exudates (2) to structure a disease-suppressive rhizosphere microbiome (3). This priming defense mechanism operates via direct Bacillus sp. antagonism to the pathogen V. dahliae and/or indirectly via induction of plant systemic resistance (4). Mono.T and Inter.T represent root exudates from tomato plants in monoculture and in the intercropping pot experiment, respectively. Sterile water was used as the control for(A)and(B). Data are shown as mean SEM (n= 6). Different letters indicate significant differences (Tukey’s HSD test,p< 0.05).

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