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Microbes have had a symbiotic relationship with plants from the beginning of time. We have long believed that bacterial strains were the first live microorganisms on Earth. We are now rethinking that concept as we learn more about archaea, but the concept still remains the same. That means that bacteria or archaea (we’ll say microorganisms) started life on this planet. We also know based on research that multi-celled organisms, including plants and every component of those plants, were all developed from the action of single-celled organisms getting together to fulfill a common goal or task. If that is the case, then we can even assume that microorganisms played an integral part in the entire evolution of plants. And if plants have used microorganisms as their building blocks, it only makes sense when you think about it that they play an important role in their growth.

There are numerous studies that display the important relationship between plants and microorganisms. One example is the case of mycorrhizae, a beneficial fungal type that was instrumental in working with plants to evolve from existing only in the ocean to moving onto land. In order for plants to obtain water and nutrients for life, it required the long skinny hyphae of the mycorrhizal fungi to dig deep into the soil and extract them. The fungus in this instance worked with the plant to retrieve the nutrients it needed for life. Without that relationship the plant would have dried up and died. This is just one of many examples of the importance of microbes to plants.

We have only scratched the surface in our understanding of how and to what extent microbes and plants interact with one another. What we have learned is quite amazing. We have learned that microbes play a vital role in breaking nutrients down in our soils to usable forms for plants. What you hear the most about is the “nitrogen fixing” bacteria, which take atmospheric nitrogen and process it into a usable form for plant roots to uptake. This is how plants have historically received a large portion of their nitrogen. But nitrogen fixers are only a small portion of the beneficial microbes. There are other microbes that break down unusable phosphates, potassium sources, as well as a whole myriad of micronutrients, and make them available to plants to use. We are also learning that these microorganisms often times even move into and out of the plants themselves. This makes a lot of sense when we look at how microorganisms move in and out of the human body. Why wouldn’t microbes do that in plants, too? Well we now know that they do. Just as “probiotics” (fancy word for microbes in your gut) aid in our efficient digestion of foods, microorganisms work in plants to improve translocation of nutrients as well as improve the movement of the nutrients in and out of the cells. So they help plants digest food better, too. And if that isn’t enough, beneficial microbes work as a natural defense mechanism for plants. Microbes view the soils they live and the plants that they interact with as their home. When an invader (pathogenic microbe) attacks their home, they are quick to go to the defense, attacking the very microbes that are invading their territory. This gives a natural defense against disease for plants under beneficial microbes’ protection.