Invisible relationships

Plants, from grass in your garden to those deep in the rainforest, live in some of the most biologically complex environments in the world. Plant roots are exposed to millions of soil-borne organisms and from this mess of competitive, and sometimes smelly microbes, plants select a special bunch to interact with to help them survive and thrive. My talk will explore how plants interact with these microbes, what it takes to become one of the chosen few and why the microbes even bother trying. I’ll also discuss my current research and why understanding plant – microbe friendships are important.

When you think of a farmer, what is the first image that comes to mind? It is unlikely to be an ant. However, it is insects that first evolved farming of crops to survive mass extinction events. In the tropical rainforests of Panama, species of leafcutter ants began to host bacteria that help defend their crop by producing antibiotics against invaders. It is this chemical defence that interests the Hutchings lab at JIC. We aim to study these interactions to understand how antibiotic compounds remove competitors from their farms, and how they could eventually be used to treat human disease.