Zooming in on plant interactions

Abstract

Few areas in plant ecology have experienced the fantastic growth demonstrated by the field of plant interactions with other organisms in recent years. Research in this field has taken rapid advantage of the tools provided by model organisms (particularly Arabidopsis thaliana), genetic and genomic approaches, and the improvement of analytical techniques to move the discipline to a completely different level from where it was 10 years ago. Major breakthroughs have been made in the understanding of the mechanisms of plant defenses against herbivores and pathogens, plant interactions with other plants and beneficial microorganisms, such as mycorrhizae and bacterial symbionts, and the modulation of these interactions by biotic and environmental factors...