Exercising influence: distinct biotic interactions shape root microbiomes

Root microbiomes are formed from diverse microbial soil settings with extraordinary consistency, suggesting both defined mechanisms of assembly and specific microbial activity. Recent improvements in sequencing technologies, data analysis techniques, and study design, allow definition of the microbiota within these intimate and important relationships with increasing accuracy. Comparing datasets provides powerful insights into the overlap of plant microbiomes, as well as the impacts of surrounding plants and microbes on root microbiomes and long-term soil conditioning. Here we address how recent studies tease apart the impact of various biotic interactions, including: plant-plant, plant-microbe, and microbe-microbe on root microbiome composition.