title: Networking in the Plant Microbiome.
abstract: Almost all higher organisms, including plants, insects, and mammals, are colonized by complex microbial communities and harbor a microbiome. Emerging studies with plants reveal that these microbiomes are structured and form complex, interconnected microbial networks. Within these networks, different taxa have different roles, and keystone species have been identified that could be crucial for plant health and ecosystem functioning. A new paper in this issue of PLOS Biology by Agler et al. highlights the presence of microbial hubs in these networks that may act as mediators between the plant and its microbiome. A next major frontier is now to link microbiome composition to function. In order to do this, we present a number of hypothetical examples of how microbiome diversity and function potentially influence host performance.
authors.affiliation: Plant-Soil-Interactions, Agroscope Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|Plant-Microbe Interactions, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marcel G A
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: van der Heijden
authors.affiliation: Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hartmann
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000382:microbiology*; D064307:Microbiota