[Role of micro-organisms in adapting plants to environmental stress conditions]

Due to their sessile nature, plants have always been confronted to various abiotic and biotic stresses in their immediate environment. As a consequence, the survival of plants depended on their ability to adjust rapidly their physiology, development and growth to escape or mitigate the impacts of stress. All plants are known to perceive and respond to stress signals such as drought, heat, salinity, attacks by herbivores and pathogens. Some biochemical processes are common to all plant stress responses including the production of certain stress proteins and metabolites, as well as the modification of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism. Although there has been extensive research in the plant stress response field, it is not yet known which factors are responsible for conferring to some plant species the capacity to colonize extreme habitats. Although considerable progress has been made in our understanding of plant stress physiology, the contribution of the plant-associated microbial community in the soil, commonly called the rhizosphere, has only recently received enhanced attention. Recent studies showed that some plant species in natural habitats require microbial associations for stress tolerance and survival. Since plants have colonized land, they have evolved mechanisms to respond to changing environmental conditions and settle in extreme habitats. Although many plants lack the adaptive capability to adapt to stress conditions, the ability of a variety of plants to adapt to stress conditions appears to depend on the association with microbes, raising a number of questions: can all plants improve stress tolerance when associated with their appropriate microbial partners? Did we miss identifying the right partners for a given plant species or variety? What distinguishes the microbes and plants that are adapted to extreme environmental conditions from those living in temperate zones? Answers to these questions are likely to revolutionize plant biology and could lead to new methods for a sustainable agriculture.