Parasitism and Symbiosis

Plant cell wall in pathogenesis, parasitism and symbiosis

The cell wall is the foremost interface at which interactions take place between plants and a wide range of other organisms including insects, nematodes, pathogenic, or symbiotic microorganisms. This Research Topic includes Mini Reviews, Reviews, Original Research Articles, and Perspective Articles that provide novel insights and detailed overviews on the dynamics of the plant cell wall in plan...

Lifestyle alternatives for rhizobia: mutualism, parasitism, and forgoing symbiosis.

Strains of rhizobia within a single species can have three different genetically determined strategies. Mutualistic rhizobia provide their legume hosts with nitrogen. Parasitic rhizobia infect legumes, but fix little or no nitrogen. Nonsymbiotic strains are unable to infect legumes at all. Why have rhizobium strains with one of these three strategies not displaced the others? A symbiotic (mutua...

Bacterial virulence factors targeting Rho GTPases: parasitism or symbiosis?

In the past few years, an important question in microbiology has arisen from reports indicating that several pathogenic bacteria have evolved virulence factors directed towards a Ras subfamily of GTPases, namely the Rho GTPases. Progress made in studying both the virulence factors and the signaling pathways involving Rho GTPases has shed light on this crosstalk. One central question is raised b...

Manipulation of auxin transport in plant roots during Rhizobium symbiosis and nematode parasitism.

The plant rhizosphere harbors many different microorganisms, ranging from plant growth-promoting bacteria to devastating plant parasites. Some of these microbes are able to induce de novo organ formation in infected roots. Certain soil bacteria, collectively called rhizobia, form a symbiotic interaction with legumes, leading to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Sedentary endoparasi...

Fungal symbiosis from mutualism to parasitism: who controls the outcome, host or invader?