The hidden world within plants: Ecological and evolutionary considerations for defining functioning of microbial endophytes

Pablo R. Hardoim*, Leonard S. Van Overbeek, Gabriele Berg, Anna Maria Pirttilä, Stéphane Compant, Andrea Campisano, Matthias Döring, Angela Sessitsch

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

1839 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

All plants are inhabited internally by diverse microbial communities comprising bacterial, archaeal, fungal, and protistic taxa. These microorganisms showing endophytic lifestyles play crucial roles in plant development, growth, fitness, and diversification. The increasing awareness of and information on endophytes provide insight into the complexity of the plant microbiome. The nature of plant-endophyte interactions ranges from mutualism to pathogenicity. This depends on a set of abiotic and biotic factors, including the genotypes of plants and microbes, environmental conditions, and the dynamic network of interactions within the plant biome. In this review, we address the concept of endophytism, considering the latest insights into evolution, plant ecosystem functioning, and multipartite interactions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)293-320
JournalMicrobiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
Volume79
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2015

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