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Flavonoids as plant signals to rhizosphere microbes

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Summary

Certain flavonoids released from plants regulate activities of soil microbes at micromolar and nanomolar concentrations. Processes affected by these compounds include induction of nodulation gene transcription in rhizobial bacteria, promotion of chemotaxis in rhizobia, increase in growth rate of several bacterial species, and enhancement of Glomus spore germination and hyphal growth. Data on the amount and identity of flavonoids released from several crop plant species form a new basis for molecular genetic and ecological studies of the rhizosphere.

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Author notes

  1. S. M. Tsai

    Present address: CENA/USP, Caixa Postal 96, 13400, Piracicaba, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA

    D. A. Phillips & S. M. Tsai

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  1. D. A. Phillips
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  2. S. M. Tsai
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Phillips, D.A., Tsai, S.M. Flavonoids as plant signals to rhizosphere microbes. Mycorrhiza 1, 55–58 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00206136

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