Intelligent plant–microbe interactions

Abstract

Plants and microorganisms sense and respond to biotic and abiotic signals in the environment to competitively optimize their fitness. These specific adjustments which are pertinent to prevailing environmental conditions bring about distinct signal-induced behavioural responses that appear intelligent. A suite of cellular and molecular networks underlie the generation of such attributes in plants and microorganisms. Recent advances in systems biology have gained insights from these biomolecular networks in fabricating biomimetic signaling circuits. Detailed interpretations, however, reveal the behavioural responses to be a conditioned alertness as a result of prudent signal perception. The review, therefore, examines the concept of ‘intelligence’ in the plant and microbial world and tries to ascertain whether their interactive responses are an outcome of pure intelligence or sheer response.