Researchers Identify Microbes That Help Plants Thwart Parasite
Plant biologists have identified bacteria that help sorghum plants resist infections and could be used as a soil “probiotic”
Quick Summary
- Prof. Siohhan Brady publishes new study in Cell Reports identifying bacteria that helps sorghum plants resist infections.
This article originally appeared on the College of Biological Sciences News.
In a new study in Cell Reports published on March 26, University of California, Davis researchers show that soil microbes can suppress witchweed infections by inducing changes in sorghum root structure that make it more resistant to infection. The researchers identified specific strains of bacteria that trigger these resistance traits and could be applied as a soil “probiotic” to improve sorghum yields in [the] future.
“These microbes have great promise as soil additives that can help farmers grow sorghum successfully in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Siobhan Brady, a professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, and a senior author on the paper.
Read the full article here.
