Scientists Hope to Cultivate an Immune System for Crops
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/science/soil-microbiome-immune-system-pesticides.html
Scientists have known about so-called “suppressive soils” for decades. In 1931, a Canadian scientist named A. W. Henry discovered the spores of the common root rot, a fungus that strikes wheat crops, in a range of soil samples. But try as he might, he could almost never get the spores to grow.
Dr. Henry eventually realized that he needed to sterilize the soil to permit the spores to develop. The microbiome in healthy soils keeps pathogens at bay.
But exactly how soil #microbes defend plants was a puzzle Dr. Henry couldn’t solve.
Today scientists are cataloging a staggering number of diverse species that live underground, and they’ve discovered some of the ways in which these fungi, bacteria and other organisms fight pathogens. But they’re still a long way from learning how this environment operates, because life in the soil is so complex.
Writing on Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Mazzola and Jos M. Raaijmakers of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology noted intriguing parallels between soil immunity and our own immune system.
#sols #